Brothers
by Shiruba Neko
Summary: Sequel to Illness. Scar has been captured and sentenced by the military. His rather ironic punishment: to serve under a State Alchemist for one full year. Luckily for him, he's been assigned to the Elrics. But even then, this won't be easy...no pairings
1. PROLOGUE: Caught

**_Chapter Title:_**_ PROLOGUE: Caught  
_**_Pairings: _**_None! I can't write romance for the life of me!  
_**_Spoilers: _**_None  
_**_Warnings: _**_None  
_**_Disclaimer: _**_I wish I owned it, but I don't. Darnit.  
_**_A/N: _**_And here, finally, is the sequel that you've all been waiting for! Now, I'm not trying to make another Illness, no way; this story gets its own plotline. But it does pick up where Illness left off (and by the way, if you haven't read Illness and you're reading this, go back and read it, because you'll be really confused if you don't), and this is almost into the realm of AU I'm messing with the canon plotline so much. -sweatdrop- Anywho, on with the story!

* * *

_

It had been a little over two weeks since Scar had recovered from his bout with the flu and had left the Elric brothers. In this time, said brothers had left Central for Eastern Headquarters at a summons from Mustang. Scar was still in Central, as he had no real reason to leave as long as he was not sighted. This was where all the State Alchemists were, anyway. Although he would not kill Edward Elric or Alex-Louis Armstrong out of gratitude for saving his life, he held no such reservations with any other State Alchemists. The fact that he had not killed any since his recovery had nothing to do with any remote feelings of charity towards the military whatsoever; it simply took time to track down and destroy any one State Alchemist.

This was what he was doing at the moment; tracking one particularly difficult old man known as the Silver Alchemist. Actually, not so much tracking as following, since he could actually see his target and was only waiting for there to be fewer people around. What he didn't know was that not only did the Silver Alchemist _know_ that Scar was following him, but that he _wanted_ Scar to be following him. He walked for some time until he reached a deserted street in the old part of town, at which point Scar decided that it was time to make his move. But before he could, a shot rang out and the Ishbalan felt something pierce his neck…something that was not a bullet. When he reached up and tore out a small dart, a horrible realization stole over him and he turned to run, but already he was feeling tired and disoriented; he only managed stumble a few steps before crashing to the ground. As he struggled to stay awake, he heard running feet and triumphant voices around him. He couldn't concentrate…everything was blurred…he was being picked up and he couldn't move, couldn't struggle against the people holding him…it was as though he was ill again, only this time it was not a friendly Alphonse who had him. He could no longer fight against the tranquilizer, and slipped into the black oblivion of unconsciousness.

* * *

Scar awoke groggily, his thoughts sluggish and his senses dulled. It took about a minute of looking at his surroundings to realize that he was lying on the floor of a dark cell, with his wrists handcuffed behind his back. A slow tug showed that these were in turn attached by a short length of chain to the wall. He tried to use his right arm to destroy the chains, but he couldn't concentrate at all. They'd drugged him. A cold, sick feeling began to rise in his chest; this was a hundred times worse than when he had woken up inside Alphonse. This time, there would be no comforting voice telling him to calm down, to not be afraid, that nothing bad would happen to him. There would be no promise of being let out soon. He was alone…and he _was_ afraid.

Scar was well and truly caught.

* * *

**_A/N:_**_ Teensy little prologue, but the next chapter is already written, so it'll be up tomorrow. I'm not so evil as to give you such a tiny chapter AND leave you with an evil cliffhanger for more than a day. But this isn't any kind of length indicator for the rest of the chapters, so don't worry about that!  
__Scar: How ironic is it that Ed's last words to me in the final chapter of Illness were 'don't get caught', and yet here I am getting caught?  
__Hehehe__…I know, I'd planned that from the beginning! Oh yes, ironic foreshadowing! Could anyone actually tell that it was foreshadowing when they read it? OH, and by the way, the Silver Alchemist is not made up. He's from Chapter 43 of the manga; he's a total bastard (Scar-san kills him, which made me happy), and he resembles The Penguin (y'know, that fat villain from Batman?). He'll be around for the next chapter or so, being himself, and when he does you can all think about him _canonically_ having his head 'sploded by Scar-san later. Yay. It's _so_ much more satisfying when it's canon. Anyway, please review, because I love feedback and constructive critisism._


	2. Trials

**_Chapter Title:_**_ Trials  
_**_Pairings: _**_None! I can't write romance for the life of me!  
_**_Spoilers: _**_YES, MAJOR spoiler for anime!Pride.  
_**_Warnings: _**_Cursing  
_**_Disclaimer: _**_I wish I owned it, but I don't. Darnit.  
_**_A/N: _**_And here it is, the first actual chapter! A little over four pages long, which is pretty long compared to the chapters in Illness…by the way, the spoiler within the chapter can be skipped; it's in the bit right after the line "I would be honored, sir."

* * *

_

Scar didn't know how long he'd been imprisoned in this horrible place. It could have been a week, it could have been a month; he'd completely lost all track of time. Of course, it was difficult to concentrate on things like time when one was constantly drugged; every time it seemed as though whatever they had put into him was wearing off, someone would come in and inject him with more. The first hour or so was always the worst, when he couldn't even think straight enough to remember his own name…or at least, he wouldn't have been able to if he still had a real name. He hated it, not being in control of his own mind, not being able to think. He hated everything about this place. It was dark and wet and cold, although it was the cold that got to him the most. His old clothes had been taken from him and he had been given a threadbare prisoner's uniform to wear; he was always cold now, always shivering. The only times his wrists were unchained were when he was fed or taken to the bathroom, and that was always under supervision by heavily armed guards. He had long lost any hope he might have had that he could escape somehow. He vaguely knew that there was a trial going on for him, but of course _he_ wouldn't be allowed to attend. He was far too dangerous for that. He could only sit here and wait for his sentence, which would probably be execution, or maybe to spend the rest of his life in this hell called prison. He didn't dare to hope for anything less, not when he knew that it was pointless. There was no more hope for him.

* * *

It had been a little over two weeks since Scar had been captured, and it was the final day of his 'trial'. This was the day on which his sentence would be given by the Fuhrer King Bradley himself. The jury, of sorts, was made up of those who had been involved with the case. The trial had basically consisted of all of these people discussing how dire the crimes which Scar had committed were, and what they felt should be done with him. The final decision was up to the Fuhrer.

"Having reviewed the case, and heard your opinions on the proper punishment," King Bradley began dramatically, "I have come to a conclusion that I believe benefits the military most. Although Scar did in fact murder quite a few State Alchemists, the fact that it was for revenge, which may be justified in his case, slightly muffles the crime. However, we cannot overlook the fact that it _was_ a grave crime. In most cases the sentence would be life in prison, but this Scar has certain…talents…that could prove useful when employed for us rather than against us. Therefore, my sentence is thus. The criminal Scar will be sentenced to a full year of serving under a chosen State Alchemist, aiding them with their missions and such. After this year has been served, he will be free to go. However, if he is caught murdering State Alchemists again, his punishment will not be so light."

"But who will be the State Alchemist in charge of him?" Hughes asked. Since he had been one of the main investigators of the Scar case, he was part of the 'jury'. He had been the one who had (discreetly) spoken in Scar's favor the most; after their little encounter a while ago, he didn't think he would have been able to look the Elrics in the face again if he hadn't.

"Well," the Fuhrer smiled, "I was hoping that someone would have a suggestion."

Murmurs spread around the table, and several alchemists were suggested. Then Hughes spoke up, "How about Fullmetal? He wasn't a part of the Ishbal Rebellion, so Scar might be slightly more inclined to work with him. He'll also have Alphonse's help."

"Hmmm…" Bradley looked thoughtful, "You do have a point there. All right, it will be Fullmetal. Lieutenant Colonel Hughes, you and…" he gave Hughes a long, thoughtful look, "…Major Armstrong will escort Scar to Eastern Headquarters; I believe that is where Fullmetal is now. Oh, and Silver, since you helped to capture Scar in the first place, you may go too, if you wish."

The Silver Alchemist saluted, "I would be honored, sir."

* * *

Later, when the Fuhrer was alone in his office, he smiled to himself. None of the 'jury' had known that the outcome had been decided from the beginning. Envy had delivered instructions directly from _that person_ to 'Bradley'…also known to a select few as Pride. _That person_ had made clear, in no uncertain words, that Scar was to be assigned to the Elric brothers. Pride had known that Hughes would suggest them, and had known that he would defend the Ishbalan. After all, he thought as he absentmindedly brushed a finger over his eye patch, he wasn't known as the All-Seeing Eye for nothing.

* * *

When the door to his cell was opened, Scar squinted at the bright light that flooded in. Several armed guards walked in, but they didn't have food with them and the drug wasn't wearing off yet, so he didn't know why they were there. When they unhooked the chain from the wall and began to lead him out of the cell, he realized that his 'trial' must have finished and that he'd been sentenced to something. Then he saw who was standing calmly outside the door, and bared his teeth in a snarl at the State Alchemist who'd gotten him caught.

"Well, it seems that a week in prison hasn't completely broken you," the Silver Alchemist spoke, his voice smooth, "But when a year has passed…we'll see," he saw Scar's confused look and chuckled condescendingly, "Ah, that's right. You don't know what your sentence is yet. Well, you were lucky enough to avoid execution; your punishment is to serve under a State Alchemist for a full year."

Scar stiffened in shock and horror. To be a tool of the military… "I would rather die," he ground out from between clenched teeth.

Silver laughed again, "You talk as though you had a choice in the matter! Oh, I would have liked to have you…you would have been quite the prize," he gave Scar an evaluating look that made the Ishbalan feel like some kind of sought-after animal, a trophy rather than a human; it made Scar feel slightly ill, and Silver smirked at the man's apparent discomfort, "I wanted to the one to break your spirit. But, alas, I am only your escort to the lucky State Alchemist who _did_ get you."

"Who?" Scar was slightly relieved that it wouldn't be this terrible man, but it could very well be someone just as bad or worse. He was beginning to really feel sick to his stomach…the military had a knife in him and they knew just how to twist it to make it hurt the most.

Silver just smirked before gesturing to the guards and turning to walk away. One of them gave Scar a small shove forwards, and proceeded to lead him through the prison corridors and outside. Scar had less than a minute to enjoy the warmth of the sun before he was pushed roughly into the back of a military transport truck. From there it was about a fifteen minute ride to the train station, after which he was led onto a waiting train. Into a baggage car. He was luggage. There were four armed guards in there with him; they looked a bit nervous.

'_As though I could actually _do_ anything when I'm full of this thrice-damned drug…_' he thought grimly as the train jerked and began to move.

* * *

It had been several hours since the train ride to Eastern had begun, and Hughes was getting slightly bored. The train's phone was broken, so he couldn't bother Mustang, and his two seat partners weren't saying anything. Of course, the silence could be attributed to the Silver Alchemist; his presence completely deadened any conversation he and Armstrong might have had. Hughes would rather have sat with Scar than Silver, but Silver had made the train arrangements and hadn't told either Hughes or Armstrong all the details. Details like where the person they were supposed to be escorting _was_. Finally, Hughes could take the silence no more.

"So," he began carefully, "where exactly is the person who we're 'escorting'?" He couldn't seem too eager to go see Scar, not around someone like Silver.

Armstrong nodded, "I have been wondering that myself."

"Oh, in the baggage car," Silver waved a hand nonchalantly, "Don't worry, there are plenty of guards, and he's been restrained and drugged."

"Oh," outwardly Hughes was calm, but inwardly he was horrified. Scar may have been a criminal, but he was still a _person_! He stood up, "I'm going to go see how that's going, then."

Armstrong stood as well, "And I shall accompany you."

Silver didn't protest, but simply shrugged as the pair left their seats and began to walk down the aisle in the direction of the baggage car.

* * *

Scar's guards were getting bored. He was sitting quietly on the floor, and had barely moved at all since the train had started, and this was not quite how they had imagined guarding a dangerous convict to be. One of them shifted from his position against the wall, turning to his fellows.

"Hey, any of you guys got any chalk on you?"

One of them nodded, digging through his pocket until he'd procured a small stick of chalk, which he handed to the first guard, "Yeah, here. Why?"

The first guard gave Scar a smirk that he didn't like at all, "A close friend of mine lost both his legs and an eye in the Ishbal Rebellion. This guy here seems like a person who appreciates revenge…I've heard that Ishbalans can't stand alchemy. I think I'll test that theory."

"Hey, doesn't matter to us," shrugged one of the others, "So long as you don't physically hurt him."

"Good," the man advanced towards Scar, who scooted backwards across the floor with a nervous look in his eyes. Then he felt a wall against his back, and closed his eyes tightly. He could handle it, he'd seen plenty before…he could just pretend that it wasn't happening…that was when he felt the chalk dragging across his face. He jerked away in surprise, lashing out with a foot which connected with the guard's leg.

The guard cursed, then called over to his fellows, "Hey, would you get over here and hold him down for me?"

They discussed it amongst themselves before agreeing, walking over to where Scar sat and pinning him to the floor despite his struggles. One of them held his head still while the first guard finished chalking a transmutation circle on his cheek and brought forth a stone about half the size of his fist. Scar, who had by now figured out exactly what the man was going to do, was thrashing and struggling as best he could, but was unable to get away. The stone was pressed against the transmutation circle, and Scar closed his eyes tightly…but it didn't block out the light, or the crackling noise like lightning as the transmutation began. He could…he could _feel_ it against his skin, could feel the stone changing texture, shifting into another form, violating everything he believed in. He was _really_ struggling now, desperately trying to get away from it, but four against one wasn't exactly fair odds for him. His mind was filled with horror and utter revulsion; he thought that he must have started shouting, because a hand was now forcefully clamped over his mouth. And now…it was changing again…and again…and again…too many times to count…he was too exhausted to struggle much any more, his shouts had degenerated into small whimpering noises…and still it continued to change. He was afraid that it would never stop…every minute felt like an eternity and it just kept changing…

Suddenly, a loud voice that Scar recognized but couldn't quite place boomed, "WHAT IN _BLAZES_ ARE YOU DOING TO HIM?"

* * *

**_A/N:_**_ Oh man…-spasms of guilt- Now I feel absolutely terrible for writing that…anyway, I know that normally Scar-san might not react quite so strongly (or maybe he would, you never know), and that he'd beat the living daylights out of those guys even without his Arm O' Doom, but remember he's spent two weeks with heavy mind-dulling sedatives in him, and they're _still_ in him, and that's weakened him quite a lot in both mind and body. And also his hands are cuffed behind his back, so…yeah. Nyeh…I wasn't even originally intending for that to happen, it just _did_. Oh, and also, you've probably noticed something about this chapter: it's twice as long as most of the chapters in Illness. Add school, and…yeah, this isn't gonna be updated nearly as quick as Illness was, but I'm gonna try not to be sporadic. This is also going to be a lot _longer_ than Illness, as it spans over the course of a whole year as opposed to eleven days)! _


	3. Reunions

**_Chapter Title:_**_ Reunions  
_**_Pairings: _**_None! I can't write romance for the life of me!  
_**_Spoilers: _**_None  
_**_Warnings: _**_Cursing  
_**_Disclaimer: _**_I wish I owned it, but I don't. Darnit.  
_**_A/N: _**_Holy flipping cow, this chapter's HUGE. There was a lot that had to happen, and I just kept writing and writing and writing and suddenly I looked up and I had written six pages.

* * *

_

When Hughes opened the door to the baggage car, he froze in utter horror at what was going on inside. Three of the 'guards' were pinning a weakly struggling Scar to the floor while the fourth held something against his face, apparently transmuting it repeatedly. Scar's eyes were squeezed shut, and muffled whimpers emanated from behind the hand clamped over his mouth. Hughes didn't even want to _think_ about how long this must have been going on for someone as strong as Scar to be whimpering. In that instant, Maes Hughes saw red.

"WHAT IN _BLAZES_ ARE YOU DOING TO HIM?" he practically roared, sprinting over to the startled guards and shoving them off of Scar, with the help of an equally furious Armstrong. He knelt down beside the Ishbalan, "Scar! Scar, are you all right?" he questioned worriedly, helping Scar into a sitting position. Then more quietly, so he wasn't overheard, "You remember me, right? You know I won't hurt you; everything will be okay, don't worry…"

"I can…I can still feel it…" Scar whispered hoarsely, shuddering. A few seconds later he began to be violently sick.

Hughes held the poor man's shoulders so that he wouldn't fall flat on his face, muttering reassuringly to him, "It'll be okay…you'll be all right, the feeling will go away…"

Meanwhile, Armstrong was dealing with the guards, speaking sternly, "I _hardly_ believe that your orders were to torture him."

"Our orders were that we were to prevent his escape," said the guard who had been performing the transmutation, "But they also stated that, so long as he wasn't physically harmed, we could do what we liked with him."

"So you decided to mentally hurt him as much as was possible," Armstrong's voice was hard, "Who gave you these orders?"

"The Silver Alchemist," one of them said sullenly, adding a disrespectful, "sir."

Hughes stood, helping a shaky Scar to his feet, "I outrank Silver, and _I_ say that Scar is coming with us to sit in a passenger car like a human being. _You_ four are going to stay in here for the rest of the trip, _and_ clean up this mess. I will also be speaking to the higher ups about your treatment of your charge. And trust me," his eyes glinted, "demotions are going to be the _least_ of your worries," and without another word, Hughes and Armstrong left the baggage car, both of them supporting Scar, and walked into an empty passenger car on the other side than the one they'd originally been in, leaving the four ex-guards to their new job.

* * *

Scar could handle pain, he could handle imprisonment…but…but _that_…combined with the all too sudden knowledge that he was now a tool of the military…it had been too much for him. If Hughes and Armstrong hadn't shown up when they did…he shuddered. It didn't bear thinking about.

"Scar?" Hughes' voice penetrated his dark thoughts, "Scar…I'm sorry, I should have come sooner. I should have stopped it before it began. I didn't know you were in there…I never even considered that they'd…" he trailed off, as though he couldn't quite bring himself to even say it.

"Nor did I," Armstrong shook his head sadly, "How anyone could be so cruel…"

"Will you be all right now?" Hughes asked concernedly.

Scar turned his eyes downward, "No. I won't," he gritted his teeth, "_I can't do this_. I _can't_. I would rather _die_ than be a tool, a _possession_ of a State Alchemist."

Hughes was surprised at the level of intensity in Scar's voice, the despair in his eyes…it was like he'd lost hope. '_That bastard Silver…he didn't tell him. He still doesn't know…he _can't_ know if he's acting like this. He's gone this whole trip thinking that he'd be a weapon for nothing but the military's benefit…_' Hughes shook Scar's shoulders, trying to snap the Ishbalan out of it, "Hey! Don't think like that! You won't be a tool _or_ a possession."

Scar looked up, crimson eyes hardening, "How are you so sure?"

"Because you," Armstrong spoke up, "were assigned to Edward. You know that neither he nor Alphonse would _ever_ treat you as anything less than human."

"The…Elric brothers…?" Scar felt a wave of relief wash through him. He hadn't dared to hope that it would be them, had never even thought it a possibility.

Hughes nodded, smiling, and reached over to rub the transmutation circle off of Scar's face, "You see? You'll be all right. And I know how to make you feel better; you remember my daughter, Elysia?" at Scar's slightly surprised nod, Hughes continued gleefully, reaching into his pockets and bringing forth over a dozen pictures, "You just have to see these new pictures of her! Isn't she the cutest?"

Scar gave a distracted nod, not really paying attention to what the man was saying. He was thinking about something else entirely. The Elrics…he wouldn't be used. He knew that the pair wouldn't allow it. Maybe…maybe this might just be bearable after all.

* * *

When Edward and Alphonse Elric had heard the news of Scar's capture, Al had been completely beside himself, and Ed had wanted to take the next train to Central (although he wasn't quite sure what he would do when he got there). Unfortunately, they had been unable to leave Eastern; the brothers had been able to do nothing but worry and wait for news about the fate of their pseudo-friend. About two weeks after they had heard the news, Mustang called Ed into his office.

"What is it, Colonel?" Ed asked distractedly as he walked in the door and sat down on one of the black couches in Mustang's office.

"You know that Scar has been captured, correct?" at Ed's nod, he continued, "Well, he was sentenced yesterday," Mustang gave a dramatic sigh, "I almost feel sorry for him…oh, and you have a new mission, by the way."

For once, Ed didn't care about the mission, "What was he sentenced to?" he tried not to sound too worried.

"Your new mission," Mustang continued as though he hadn't heard Ed's question, although the small smile on his face showed otherwise, "will be arriving by train in about an hour. I suggest you get down to the station to wait."

"WHAT WAS HE SENTENCED TO?" Ed shouted, standing up and waving his arms around in a rather comical display.

"You," Mustang stated calmly.

Ed blinked, "Huh?"

"He was sentenced to serve under a State Alchemist for one full year. You were the State Alchemist who was chosen. Are you up to it, Fullmetal?"

Ed could have cheered, but as he couldn't raise Mustang's suspicions, he instead gave a wide smirkish grin, "Of course I am. And he'll like it or else."

Now it was Mustang's turn to smirk, "Why Fullmetal, I do believe that he's a bit too old for you."

It took a few seconds for the full implication of this to sink in, at which point Ed turned bright red and gave the Colonel a disgusted glare, "Only _you_," was all he said before storming out.

* * *

Ed and Al waited anxiously at the train station. Al had been absolutely ecstatic to hear that Scar would be staying with them for a whole year as opposed to being executed or getting a life sentence in prison. When the train pulled into the station at last, both Elrics were barely able to keep from running on board; they knew that being too friendly with Scar too early would be highly suspicious. Hughes and Armstrong walked out, and went straight over to them.

"Ed, Al! So you've heard the news! Ed, you need to go in and meet him, and Al, you have to stay out here I'm afraid. The Silver Alchemist will take you to him," Hughes gestured at a short, fat, old man with a ridiculous moustache who vaguely reminded Ed of a penguin. Hughes leaned closer, "Watch out for him; he'll expect you to act like a condescending, arrogant bastard towards Scar, and if you don't he'll be suspicious. I already warned Scar, so put on a good act and don't worry about alienating him," Hughes gave him a small push towards 'Penguin Man', as Ed had mentally dubbed him, "Good luck."

Fortunately, Ed was very good at the whole 'Arrogant State Alchemist' act. He didn't say a word to Silver, and the old man just gave a kind of 'follow me' gesture to him. They stopped outside the door to one of the cars, and Silver waved aside the pair of guards and took Ed inside.

It took every ounce of Ed's self control to keep a straight face when he saw Scar. The Ishbalan was draped limply across most of a seat, eyes half-closed and unfocused, with his wrists handcuffed behind his back. Instead of his regular clothes, he wore a ratty grey prison uniform, and his hair was matted and filthy. It was such a change from the strong, dignified Scar whom Ed had last seen that the young alchemist stood there in shock for nearly a minute before snapping back into himself and remembering his act. He strode forward, "So, what did you do to him to keep him under control like this?" Scar didn't even look up, but cringed away slightly; Ed hoped beyond hope that the man was putting on an act of his own.

"A particularly strong sedative; it prevents the mental concentration needed for alchemy, and weakens the muscles to keep him from moving much. We just now gave him a full dose so that he'd be tractable for you, although it hasn't fully kicked in yet," Silver explained as he moved to stand next to Ed.

"So," Ed cringed internally at what he was about to say, "how long until I have to give him more? I want him to be…tame," Ed almost hadn't been able to say the last word, and he'd seen Scar flinch very slightly at it.

"Oh, in about seven hours or so it'll begin to wear off. Now, I must be leaving, so," Silver chuckled as though he were making a joke, "you two can get to know each other. If he gives you any trouble, just shout and the guards will come and give you a hand," and with that, he left the car, closing the door behind him.

Instantly Ed dropped the act, "Scar…oh, _hell_…how did this happen to you?"

Scar's gaze rose slightly, "…Edward…?"

Ed clenched his teeth; it was horrible to see Scar like this, but he gave a weak smile anyway, "Yeah…yeah, it's me."

"…Alphonse…?" Scar gazed past Ed, searching for the younger Elric brother.

"No, he's outside waiting. You'll see him soon."

"…you're not…going…t'give me…any more…are you…?" Scar sounded slightly worried.

Ed realized that Scar was talking about the drug, "No, never! I didn't mean anything I said while that creep was in here, Scar, don't worry. Didn't Hughes warn you that I was going to be acting?"

Scar gave a small nod, looking relieved, "…yes, but…you're a good…actor…and I…can't think…" he turned his eyes downward, "…must look…pathetic…"

"Ah, only a little," Ed grinned, "Can you stand up, or are we going to have to get Al in here to carry you again?"

Scar shook his head limply, "…can't walk…by myself for…while…and they wouldn't…let Alphonse…carry me…"

"Hmmm…and you're too heavy for me to even support," Ed mused, "I could always give the seat wheels and roll you out…but you wouldn't be very happy with that, would you?"

For an instant, Ed saw a miniscule amount of panic in Scar's eyes, "…no…no alchemy…"

"Okay, okay, no alchemy; it was only a suggestion," Ed put his hands up, grinning, but inwardly wondered at that brief glint of panic that he'd seen. He would have to ask Scar about that later, but now he had to focus on the difficulty of simply getting the man out of the train, "I guess the guards are gonna have to do it, then. But we're both going to have to put on an act for them," Ed waited for Scar to nod in agreement before continuing, "Pretend…pretend that I'm Brigadier General Gran who now owns your soul," he grinned and walked to the door and out, "Hey you guys, get him to the transport will you?"

The guards saluted before filing into the train car and roughly pulling Scar to his feet, forcing him along at a quick pace. It was obvious from the way he was practically hanging from their arms that he was in no condition to be walking at all; Ed gritted his teeth as he watched them half-drag the stumbling Ishbalan out the door, wanting to shout at them to stop, to go slower…but he couldn't; if he gave away the fact that he'd helped to harbor Scar before, there would be massive repercussions for everyone who had been involved, and Scar would certainly be assigned to someone else. He couldn't do anything but follow the small procession, fists clenched tightly, off the train towards the waiting car. Al and Hughes were already inside it, and it looked like the driver was Lieutenant Havoc. There wasn't enough room for Armstrong, so the major would be going with Silver in another car, and they would meet back up when they arrived at headquarters. Ed couldn't decide which of the two he felt sorrier for. Then his attention was drawn back to Scar as the man attempted to not be put into the car, planting his feet and resisting forward movement. But it was a halfhearted attempt at best, and he was quickly forced through the door to sit in the back seat next to Al. Ed slid into the remaining seat and shut the door, shooting the guards a glare as they walked away.

Havoc leaned around to look at the three, "That's everyone, right?" he gave Scar a slightly nervous look, which diminished somewhat when he saw the Ishbalan's current condition. Scar was breathing heavily from the fast march across the train station, his half-closed eyes pointed towards the floor; he seemed to have shrunk into himself, like he was trying to disappear. '_It looks like he's…afraid…_' Havoc realized with a start, feeling a sudden stab of sympathy. Adopting a more cheerful expression, he gave Scar a grin, "Hey, don't look so grim. We're not going to eat you."

Scar didn't look up, or give any sign that he'd registered or even heard Havoc's comment. The rest of the car trip passed in uncomfortable silence. Ed, Al, and Hughes couldn't talk freely with Scar on account of Havoc, Havoc was still a bit too uncomfortable with the idea of Scar being there listening to have much of a conversation with anyone else, and by this time Scar couldn't think straight enough to talk even if he'd wanted to. There was general relief from everyone except Scar when they finally pulled up in front of the Eastern military headquarters and began to get out of the car.

As soon as he'd gotten out, Ed crossed his arms, "There's no _way_ he's going to walk all the way to our room," he stated in an 'argue-with-me-and-die' tone, "I don't want him hating us all even more than he already does because we forced him to walk until he collapsed, and in the state he's in right now he _will_ collapse before we're even halfway there."

"I can carry him to the room, niisan," Al volunteered immediately. The younger Elric had been highly concerned about Scar ever since the Ishbalan had gotten off the train. The way he'd barely been able to walk, how he'd balked and had to literally be shoved into the car, his curled-inward posture and lethargic unresponsiveness during the whole ride…there was something very wrong, and it worried Al a great deal.

Ed grinned, "Great, that should work fine. You go on ahead, and I'll stay here and wait for Armstrong and Silver, and get everything sorted out."

"But wouldn't that have him alone with Scar?" Havoc questioned, "Somehow that doesn't exactly seem safe."

"Ah, he'll be fine. Right, Al?" Ed called to Al, who was currently halfway in the car, attempting to get Scar out. Attempting.

"Niisan, he doesn't want to come out, and I don't think I can get him without hurting him!"

"What?" slightly confused, Ed peered around Al and saw immediately what he meant. Scar had moved so that his back was pressed against the other, closed, door, and had braced his feet against the front seats. Ed wasn't sure if he was acting or if he was simply unable to distinguish friend from foe through the drug-induced haze clouding his mind; looking at Scar's eyes, Ed decided that it was the latter. That made things difficult. He leaned towards Al and whispered, "They drugged him with something that keeps him from thinking clearly; he doesn't recognize you. From the way I saw those guards at the station treating him, he probably thinks you're going to hurt him. Go around to the other door; I'll distract him so he doesn't move again."

Al nodded and slowly moved around to the other side of the car, and Ed took his place in the door. As planned, Scar kept his attention on Ed until Al quickly swung the door he was leaning against open and he fell out backwards into Al's arms. The Ishbalan frantically struggled against the tight hold for a few seconds before seemingly giving up and going limp. Al straightened up, heading quickly for the dorms where he and Ed had been staying for their time in East City. The second he got there he laid Scar down on the bottom bunk, where the Ishbalan lay unmoving.

"Scar-san…" Al gently nudged Scar's shoulder, trying to get some kind of response or recognition from the man, but Scar recoiled from the touch, cringing and curling himself inward as though he expected to be struck. If Al hadn't been a suit of armor, he would have cried at the sight; Scar was his _friend_, and to see him like this was unbearable. What had they done to him? Ed had mentioned something about a drug…but that alone shouldn't have made him afraid of human contact…not like _this_. Kneeling beside the bed so that he was on eye level with Scar, he spoke soothingly, "It's okay, Scar-san, don't be afraid…I won't hurt you. It's _me_, it's your _friend_…you remember me, don't you?"

Scar raised his eyes slightly; even though he was unable to register exactly what was being said, somewhere in the very depths of his subconscious he _knew_ that voice. A small spark of recognition flared in his eyes, a name slowly began to form in his mind, and a weak whisper found its way out of his mouth, "…Al…phon..se…?"

Al nodded, "Yeah, Scar-san, it's Alphonse. It's me."

Scar instantly relaxed; the meaning of the actual words escaped him, but he still recognized what a nod meant, and he subconsciously knew that this person wouldn't hurt him, although for the life of him he couldn't remember why. Words, names, and memories fled his mind's grasp; it was like trying to catch fish with his bare hands while swimming underwater. It was almost a miracle he'd been able to remember Al's name, or even recognize the boy at all. But now that he had, he somehow knew that he didn't have to be afraid anymore.

* * *

**_A/N: _**_Aaawww…how cute is that? Can't remember anything else, but he can remember Al, even if it's only very vaguely. But poor Scar-san; he's so completely out of it that he can't understand a word people say to him. Good thing he's got Al. And Ed. Oh, and can't forget Hughes and Armstrong. And on that note, yay for the two crazy people; they rescued Scar-san from the -insert profanity of choice here- sadistic meanie-head guard people! Yay for the crazy people getting to be the ones to save the day! Ah yes, and everyone feel free to beat/maim/completely destroy the ex-guards! Envy wants to help with this too. _


	4. Recovery

**_Chapter Title:_**_ Recovery  
_**_Pairings: _**_None! I can't write romance for the life of me!  
_**_Spoilers: _**_None  
_**_Warnings: _**_Cursing  
_**_Disclaimer: _**_I wish I owned it, but I don't. Darnit.  
_**_A/N: _**_Yay, this chapter has lots of friendship fluffiness! And Scar starting to act more like the Scar we all know and love. Wheee…I love writing friendship fluff so much…

* * *

_

Al was extremely happy with the fact that Scar seemed to recognize him and wasn't afraid of him anymore. Then he remembered something, "Oh! Scar-san, Hughes-san gave me a package, and he said it was for you. Just a second…" he opened up the front of his armor and withdrew a medium-sized cardboard box, "Here, I'll open it for you," he said, opening the box. Inside were Scar's old clothes, neatly folded, and on top of those was a small key. Al picked up the key, wondering what it was for, when he was distracted by a small clinking noise. Scar was trying to move his arms, and looking slightly confused by the fact that his hands wouldn't come apart. He turned his head towards Al and gave him a pleading look that very clearly said something along the lines of 'Help me'. Al looked at the handcuffs, then at the key, and realized very quickly what it was for. In a few seconds, Scar's arms were completely free for the first time since he'd been captured.

"There you go, Scar-san, I bet that feels a bit better now. Here, these are yours too," Al took the clothes out of the box and held them out for Scar to take.

Scar looked curiously at the bundle of fabric that the-boy-named-Alphonse was holding out; a coat was on the top of the small stack, and it somehow looked very familiar. Slowly, cautiously, he reached a hand over and grasped a handful of the yellow fabric. There was a word…he knew there was a word he could say that would mean what he wanted to know…he pushed determinedly through the fog in his mind, trying to remember…there it was, he'd found it! Feeling vaguely proud that he'd remembered something else, his mouth formed around the whispered question, "…m..ine…?"

Al nodded again, getting the distinct feeling that even though Scar seemed to recognize him, the man was still very confused and disoriented, "Yes, Scar-san, it's yours."

Scar slowly dragged the coat off the pile, not once taking his eyes off of Al, and held it tightly against his chest as though he was afraid that someone would try to take it from him. After about a minute, he decided that it would be safe to look away from the-boy-named-Alphonse, and turned his eyes down to the coat. A small smile appeared on his face, and he quietly repeated the word he'd found which meant that this was his and nobody would take it away from him, "…mine…"

If Al could have smiled, he would have been beaming. This was the first time he'd ever seen Scar smile, except for in Ed's pictures of him from when he'd been basically drunk on his pain medicine, but that wasn't quite the same as this. At any rate, now that Scar seemed to be quite a bit more relaxed than he had been when Al had brought him in the room, the younger Elric could begin to take care of his friend. Noting how matted and dirty Scar's formerly white hair was, Al turned and reached for a comb that was lying on the small bedside table. They would certainly have to take Scar to see Colonel Mustang, and since he didn't know how long it would take for Scar to be lucid enough to comb out his own hair, or how long they had before the Colonel would want to see him, Al decided that he should probably just do this now.

Scar had noticed the-boy-named-Alphonse moving, but since the movement didn't seem to pertain to him, he disregarded it. Then he was aware of something touching his head, and he looked up, startled. The-boy-named-Alphonse muttered to him in a reassuring tone, and the thing touching his head began to move gently through his hair. Whatever was happening, it didn't hurt, so he turned his attention back on the coat that was his. The-boy-named-Alphonse was still talking quietly, but he couldn't understand the words and so it became like a soothing background noise. Within minutes the weary Ishbalan had fallen into a deep, dreamless sleep.

* * *

Nearly two hours later, Ed walked into the room, "Hey, Al, sorry I took so long. Had to convince them we didn't need any guards, and then I had to go talk to the Colonel. Everything okay in here?"

Al looked up from combing Scar's hair, and raised a finger to where his lips would be if he had them, "Ssshhh…he's asleep, niisan."

Ed walked over to them, and saw that Scar was, in fact, deeply asleep, and clutching his yellow trenchcoat as though his life depended on it. His hair was almost completely combed by now, and although it still desperately needed to be washed, it was looking much better than it had been. Ed whispered quietly to Al, "How's he doing?"

Al sighed, "He was really confused and scared when I brought him in here, and I don't think he could understand what I was saying to him. He seemed to recognize me a little, but not at first. Niisan…what did they do to him?"

Ed's eyes narrowed, and he clenched his fists, anger underlining his speech, "They drugged him, Al. They fucking drugged him so he couldn't think and couldn't move. Hughes told me how he was caught; they lured him into a trap and darted him out of nowhere, with no warning at all. He never had a chance…he didn't even get a real trial. He spent two weeks drugged and chained up in a cell, not knowing what was going to happen to him."

Al finished with Scar's hair and laid the comb back on the bedside table. He then placed a hand on the Ishbalan's left shoulder, speaking almost too softly to be heard, "Scar-san…so that's why…"

"Hey, everything okay in here?" a familiar red-haired head poked into the room, "I'm supposed to check on y-"

"Ssshhh!" Ed and Al made shushing motions at Breda, but it was too late. Scar shifted, squinting, and let out a very small 'waking up' sound.

Ed glared in annoyance, whispering loudly, "You woke him up!"

"Hey, sorry," Breda rubbed the back of his head apologetically, walking the rest of the way into the room and looking at Scar with a mixture of curiosity and slight fear, "Are you sure it was safe to take off his handcuffs?"

"Of course it was!" Ed continued to glare.

Meanwhile, Scar was waking up very slowly. His thoughts were much clearer than they had been, although he couldn't remember much of what had happened since the drug had begun to take affect. He was lying on something soft, and holding a bundle of slightly stiff cloth. Wait, he was _holding_? His hands were free? There were people arguing, and he could understand what they were saying…it sounded like they were talking about him. His eyes remained closed, but a murmured question passed his lips, "…where…am I…?"

The voices stopped immediately, and after a few seconds one spoke up, "You're in our room, Scar-san."

That voice…Scar's eyes snapped open, seeing a wonderfully familiar suit of armor sitting in front of him, "…Alphonse…"

Al nodded, "Are you feeling any better now?"

Scar thought on this, but his mind was still refusing to cooperate, "Don'…r'member…" he looked around, remembering that there had been more people than just Alphonse. He saw Edward standing nearby, and also another, unfamiliar person. Someone who was wearing a military uniform. He knew that this fact should put him on edge, should make him instantly untrusting, but he couldn't quite muster enough energy to care, and so merely gave the strange man a questioning look rather than a glare, "Don'…know you. Who…?"

Scar was vaguely amused by how the man gave a very small, startled jump after being addressed, and how nervous he looked when he answered, "Second Lieutenant Breda," in a hurried way, as though he was expecting Scar to leap at his throat if he didn't answer fast enough.

Ed noticed this as well, and smirked, "Y'know, he's not going to messily devour you," he reached over and patted Scar's shoulder, still grinning widely, "Right? You wouldn't hurt a fly, would you?"

Scar gave Ed an annoyed look that very clearly said 'I _will_ get you for that later' before giving his reply, "Hnn."

Breda grinned nervously and began backing out the door, "Well…apparently you're all doing fine, so…uh…just call if you need any help or anything…" he made his retreat, closing the door behind him and leaving the three alone together for the first time since they'd parted over a month before.

Ed spoke first, mock-annoyance in his tone as he looked at Scar, "Hey, you're not a very good listener, are you?"

"What…?" the Ishbalan stared back, a slightly confused expression on his face.

"Don't you act like you don't know what I'm talking about," Ed poked him right in the center of his scar, "I told you not to get yourself caught, and I don't think you listened very well."

"Hmm," Scar replied in a slightly amused tone; words could not express how glad he was that it was _them_ that he'd been assigned to. He'd never say it out loud, but he really had missed the brothers, "Guess it's…fate…for me t'be…stuck with…you two."

Ed laughed and ruffled Scar's hair, "As though that's a bad thing. Look on the bright side; at least now we won't have to stuff you inside Al whenever we need to go anywhere."

"Don'…r'mind me," Scar gave a mock shudder, then remembered something, "…there anything…else for me…t'wear? Sick of these…prison clothes…"

"You really _are_ out of it, aren't you?" Ed shook his head and sighed, "Look down at what you're holding."

Scar looked down, confused…and saw his yellow trenchcoat, "It's…it's my…you got it back?"

Al nodded, "Hughes-san got it back for you. Your shirt and pants, too."

"I thought…I'd never see them…again…" Scar's grip on the coat tightened. It was like an anchor, something tangible and familiar from his old life that he could hold onto in this new life he'd been thrust into so suddenly. Mentally thanking Hughes, he attempted to push himself up…but only got a few inches before dropping right back down onto the bed.

"Hey, don't try to push yourself too hard yet, Scar-san," Al cautioned, placing a hand on the Ishbalan's shoulder, "You don't need to get up and put them on right away. There's plenty of time."

Ed nodded, "Yeah, you don't have to go meet with Colonel Bastard until the drug's completely worn off," then, seeing Scar's slightly confused look, he added, "Colonel Mustang. He's a State Alchemist, so you probably know who he is."

Scar thought on this, "I think…I tried to…kill him…once…"

"Oh, _that_ should make this interesting," Ed sighed, then grinned as a thought occurred to him, "Pity you didn't succeed."

"Niisan!" Al scolded, "You shouldn't say things like that!"

Before this conversation could escalate into any sort of argument, Scar interrupted, "Why…do I have to…meet _him_?"

"He's my commanding officer, so even though he won't be directly in charge of you, he'll have some impact on what you'll be doing. But don't worry, he won't be able to order you around without going through me first," Ed smiled, amused, "He's probably going to give you some lecture or something about how you're not allowed to kill us."

Scar nodded distractedly; he could think of a few other things that the Flame Alchemist would want to discuss. He was not looking forward to this meeting, not at all. But now was not the time to worry about it. For now he could just rest here, once again under the care and protection of the Elrics, and recover his strength. Even though he was in the middle of a military headquarters rather than in peaceful Rizembool, he could still draw some small amount of comfort from their familiar presence. Things were looking up, if only just a little.

* * *

**_A/N: _**_See, I'm being _nice_ to Scar-san now. _Good_ things are happening to him. I'm not planning for him to go through any more mental torture anytime soon. -hugs Scar-  
__Scar: -raises eyebrow- I take it you don't count me having to go be lectured by Mustang about not killing the Elrics and not trying to stop them from doing alchemy and not sabotaging missions as mental torture?  
__Oh, it's not _that_ bad. And you get to meet the _whole_ Crazy Mustang Posse!  
__Scar: Ishbala help me…  
__Hehehe__…oh, I had a hilarious mental image when I was writing how Breda was saying his name real fast…it was of a _very _poorly drawn Scar with gigantic fangs leaping onto a pixilated red smudge that was originally Breda…and at midnight that was just the funniest thing ever and had me laughing sporadically for the next few hours. I'm going to have to draw it. _


	5. Meeting

**_Chapter Title:_**_ Meeting  
_**_Pairings: _**_None! I can't write romance for the life of me!  
_**_Spoilers: _**_None  
_**_Warnings: _**_Cursing  
_**_Disclaimer: _**_I wish I owned it, but I don't. Darnit.  
_**_A/N: _**_Nar, this is late…stupid college applications, keeping me from writing…-grumbles- Anywho, this chapter was interesting to write. Hehehe…the Mustang Gang is fun. They never cease to amuse me.

* * *

_

It had been a little over seven hours since Scar had last been injected with the cursed drug that had plagued him since he'd been captured, and now for the first time in a long time he was free of its influence. Or, at least, he mostly was; after two weeks of being constantly drugged, it would take a few more days for him to be completely back to his former strength. But for now he was more than grateful to be able to think quickly, to walk without stumbling or needing support, to understand, to recognize, to remember…to be _himself_ again. He was not afraid anymore.

"Scar? Hello? Is there anyone in there?" Ed's voice, accompanied by a gloved hand waving in front of his face, snapped Scar out of his musings, "We're here. I swear, one of these days you're going to run into a wall, and I'm going to laugh."

"Hnn," Scar shot him a mildly annoyed look, then gazed around at the surroundings he hadn't been paying any attention to until just then. He, Edward, and Alphonse were standing in a very military-looking hallway outside a wooden door, which presumably led to Colonel Mustang's office. He'd gotten a much-needed shower and meal about an hour ago, was back in his old clothes, and could think properly. He was ready for this…or at least, that was what he was telling himself. He reached over to open the door, but before he could it burst open from the other side. He barely moved out of the way in time to avoid getting hit by the door, but wasn't quite fast enough to evade the person who had been going through it. Caught off guard and off balance, the Ishbalan was knocked backwards onto the floor in a flurry of paper; as he stood up, he saw the person who had run into him had also fallen. It was a small man in military uniform, with short black hair and large, rounded glasses; when he looked up and saw who he'd run into, his eyes widened and he very visibly paled.

"Ah, I…I'm sorry!" the man practically squeaked, standing up and then immediately crouching back down to pick up all the papers he'd dropped, frantically apologizing all the while, "I didn't think there would be anyone there, and I was in a hurry…I didn't mean to run into you, really!" he kept dropping papers every time he picked up another sheet; he looked terrified out of his wits. Scar just stared.

"It's all right, no harm done. Here, let me help you," Al finally took the initiative, kneeling down and helping gather up the sheets. With his help, the papers were quickly up off the floor and once again in a semi-neat stack in the man's arms. Al tilted his head and suggested happily, "Why don't you introduce yourself?"

The man looked like he wanted to sink into the floor as he stared up at Scar and stuttered, "Um…I'm Sergeant Major Fury…I…I have to…go…" he trailed off, then turned and walked very quickly down the hallway, nearly dropping all his papers again.

Ed looked after him curiously, "Looks like he's scared of you too. Well, let's go," Ed opened the door the rest of the way, and the three of them filed into the large room on the other side.

There were several desks in the room, and on the opposite wall from the door was a gigantic window that took up almost the entire wall. Directly in front of the window was a desk, larger than the others, covered in stacks of paperwork. The right wall was all a line of file cabinets, and the left wall was bare save for another door and a clock which showed the time to be nearly 6:00 PM. Three uniformed men were working at the desks, one of whom Scar recognized as the one from before…Breda, that was it; the other two, a spiky haired man with a cigarette and an older white haired man, were unknown to him. There was also a serious looking blonde woman standing near the big desk, looking through the sea of paper.

"Hey, we're here," Ed gave a casual salute as the three of them entered. All eyes in the room were immediately on Scar; it made him immensely uncomfortable, especially since they were all in military uniform, and he suppressed the instinct to adopt a fighting stance.

The woman straightened, and gestured at the other door, "The Colonel is in the meeting room," she looked at Scar, "You can go in now."

The Ishbalan steeled himself, then walked towards the door, away from the Edward and Alphonse, practically feeling the other eyes in the room follow his every movement. Every step he took seemed to echo loudly in the silence, and the relatively short path to the door seemed to lengthen into an impossible distance; his instincts were screaming at him that around him were soldiers, deadly enemies, and that he must either fight or flee, or he would die. He did _not_ like this, not at all. But despite it all, he kept his head held high and his pace steady, flatly refusing to show any signs of weakness. He would not quicken his steps, lower his gaze to the floor, or retreat back to the relative protection of the Elrics, no matter how much his instincts wanted him to. When he finally reached his goal, he very nearly breathed a sigh of relief that his small ordeal was finished…but contained it, reminding himself that there was another trial waiting for him on the other side of the door. Slowly he turned the knob, pushed the door open, and walked through, closing it behind him. He was on his own now.

"Sit down," a black haired man that Scar recognized immediately as Colonel Mustang, the Flame Alchemist, gestured to one of the squared black couches sitting a little ways into the room. He was sitting behind a desk, also with quite a collection of paperwork atop it, and looked almost irritatingly relaxed. Scar shot him a brief glare before walking over to the couch and sitting; it wasn't very comfortable, and it had probably been made like that on purpose. Mustang continued, his tone slightly bored and his eyes turned towards the wall, "I see that you're looking considerably better than you were," when he received nothing but stony silence in reply, he looked over at Scar. Their eyes met for a brief second, and, at seeing the Ishbalan's defiant glare, Mustang gave a very small, slightly triumphant smile, "Good, so your spirit hasn't really been broken. After what Havoc and Breda told me, I was worried; after all, you're no good to us as a frightened, half-dead, empty shell."

"Hnn," Scar glared; he was beginning to be more than a little annoyed with the Flame Alchemist and what he was implying. Unconsciously, he tightened his right hand into a fist; Edward and Armstrong may have earned his forgiveness…but this man, a State Alchemist whom he _knew_ had been at Ishbal, was far from it.

Mustang noticed this, "Old habits die hard, don't they?" he dropped the rhetorical question casually and met Scar's eyes again, this time holding the angry crimson gaze instead of looking away. His relaxed tone remained, but Scar saw that his eyes were all seriousness, "But these habits you are going to have to break yourself of. You have quite a few good reasons to hate us, and I can understand how you must feel-"

"No," Scar interrupted, speaking through teeth clenched in what was almost a snarl, "You do _not_ understand. _You_ could never even come _close_ to comprehending…" his eyes were positively blazing with fury. This man, this State Alchemist who had killed so many of his people, who was the cause of so much of his pain…how _dare_ he claim to understand.

Mustang seemed unfazed, "Your arm is glowing," he pointed out nonchalantly, "Are all Ishbalans as short tempered as you are? I'm surprised there wasn't a rebellion sooner."

Scar was now literally shaking with barely suppressed rage; he had very nearly jumped up and killed Mustang right then, and it had taken every last ounce of his self-control not to. He hadn't noticed the faint red glow emanating from his right arm before, but now it was impossible to miss; the light had gotten bright enough to shine right through his coat sleeve. Did Flame have no sense of preservation? Was he really arrogant enough to disregard the danger he was putting himself in by saying these things that seemed almost _designed_ to infuriate…wait. Scar could almost hear the mental 'click' as he figured out just what Mustang was doing. The man was purposefully goading him, _trying_ to push the Ishbalan until he lost control of himself…Scar then realized with a cold jolt just how close he had been to succeeding. Forcing himself to calm down, Scar lowered his gaze to rest on what appeared to be a coffee stain on the floor next to his left foot, not quite trusting himself to continue looking at Mustang.

"Good, so you've figured it out," Mustang's tone had changed from being infuriatingly relaxed to simply neutral, "But not quickly enough."

"I…" Scar was in something akin to shock. It was frightening, how quickly and easily he'd been pushed to the point he had been, "I almost…"

"Lost control? Yes, I saw. You're lucky that this was only a test…a warning, if you will," Mustang rested his chin on his hands, now completely serious, "There are many who would employ upon you the same tactics that I just used, but their reasons will not be nearly so benign. They will bait you, goad you, try their hardest to make you lose control and attack. They want you to appear dangerous and unpredictable, too much so for such young boys as the Elrics to control. These people either want you back in prison, or, if they are like most State Alchemists, want you for themselves. You cannot afford to have as short a temper as you just demonstrated, or their job will be all too easy."

Scar raised his eyes, the crimson orbs narrowed in distrust and suspicion, "Why are you telling me this? Why warn me?"

"Hm," Mustang made a noncommittal noise, a small, almost unnoticeable smile appearing on his face, "Well, I suppose it might be that since I am no longer able to atone for what I've done by having my brain exploded, I might try helping you out a bit."

"I don't need your help," Scar glared; he didn't trust this man in the slightest.

Now Mustang smirked, his tone amused, "And what do you think would have happened if I hadn't warned you, and you reacted in that fashion when it was a real trap? But, then again, I don't blame you for not wanting my help, or for hating me. You have good reason to," he was serious now, more so than he had been for the whole conversation, "Edward, however, is a different story. You don't know how lucky you were when you were assigned to him; I highly doubt that you haven't noticed how lenient he's been with you already. You are entirely lucid, unrestrained, and unguarded, not to mention the fact that he's allowed you to get cleaned up and wear your old clothes; I'm assuming that he's making an attempt to gain your trust, to get some semblance of cooperation from you rather than forcing you against your will to follow his orders. If it had been anyone else, this would certainly not be the case. Trust me, you want to stay with him. And _that _means that you can't kill him, sabotage missions, or try to stop him from performing alchemy."

"I will not harm the boy, but," Scar's eyes narrowed, "I refuse to become an obedient tool of the military."

Mustang shrugged, "Fair enough. But if you cause an unnecessary amount of trouble, you _will_ find yourself reassigned."

"Is that all you have to say?" Scar's expression was unreadable; he was tired of listening to this man tell him what he should do, and he just wanted the lecture to be over.

"It would have been, but there is one more thing," the intensity of Flame's gaze seemed to bore into Scar's very soul, and there was the barest hint of pity in his voice when he continued, "I was told what happened on the train. Or at least, part of it. But in order to pursue any kind of retribution against the…perpetrators, I am going to have to know the whole story."

Scar was surprised, and it very clearly showed in his voice, "They would be…punished?" He had not expected that. He was a criminal, a State-Alchemist-killing _Ishbalan_ criminal, and hadn't thought that the military would care enough about what happened to _him_ to give more than _maybe_ a few stern words to his tormentors. But…an actual punishment?

Mustang gave a brief, amused smile, "Yes, they would; not executed of course, but most likely demotions and probation. _Officially_ it would be because they greatly jeopardized what little chance there is of you cooperating with Edward, as well as very likely causing you to be even more adverse to alchemy and the military than you already were. Personally, however," his eyes hardened in something akin to anger, "what they did was inexcusable. But you need to tell me what happened, or nothing can be done."

Scar gave an almost inaudible sigh, turning his gaze down to rest upon the coffee stain once more; he would rather forget that it had ever happened at all. In a quiet, deadpan voice, he began to recite, "I was just sitting on the floor. I hadn't done anything…I think they were just bored. One of them asked for chalk, and said something about how his friend was injured in the massacre, and that he was going to test how much Ishbalans hated alchemy…" unbidden, the image of the guard's cruel grin flashed into Scar's mind, and he swallowed dryly, a small tinge of fear appearing his eyes, "I moved backwards until I was against the wall, and he followed. I closed my eyes…then I felt the chalk on my face and kicked the man in the leg. He called the others over, and they…pinned me against the floor," …_strong hands, stronger than he was, forcing him down, holding him, trapping him_…his heartbeat quickened; the fear had grown and was beginning to become apparent in his voice, "I couldn't get away. I was weak and they were stronger, and I just couldn't get away…they held my head still and drew a transmutation circle on my cheek. I knew, I _knew_ what was going to happen but I couldn't get away…all I could do was close my eyes…" …_a bright blue flash and a sound like lightning, stone changing against his face, can't get away from it_…Scar shuddered, unconsciously bringing a hand up to grip the side of his face where it had happened; he had forgotten who he was talking to, forgotten where he was, lost in the nightmare memory "They used a stone…I…I could feel it changing…and once it was done they made it change again, over and over…" …_it was disgusting, warping and shifting and never stopping, can't get away_…his breath started coming in shallow gasps, and his voice shook, "I was afraid…I was screaming…I wanted somebody to come, to find me and make it stop, but they covered my mouth and no one could hear me…"…_horror and fear and desperation, cruel laughter rising over his own muffled screams, oh God please let someone hear, let someone come, make it stop changing_…"I don't know how long it went on…it felt like years. I didn't even have the energy to scream anymore…I was afraid…so afraid that it would never stop…" suddenly he was aware of a hand being placed on his shoulder, and he jumped slightly, startled. He looked up to see Mustang standing in front of him, expression a mix of anger and pity.

"That's enough, I know the rest of it," Mustang gave a reassuring little smile, but on the inside he was seething; it was worse than he'd thought, if it had affected someone like Scar this much. He'd just seen the man go from glaring defiance to panicked fear, and, serial killer or not, that wasn't _right_; there was no excuse in the world good enough to redeem this kind of cruelty. But even if they got the worst punishment possible, the damage had already been done. Mustang sighed, "I apologize; I should not have asked you to relive it after so short a time. Does Edward know about this?"

Scar's eyes hardened, "He doesn't need to. Neither of them do," the Ishbalan's tone and expression were guarded. He couldn't believe how much just _telling_ what had happened had affected him; his heart was still racing, and the fear hadn't completely left him yet. And that fear had made his tongue quite a bit looser than it should have been. He gritted his teeth as he realized just how much weakness he had shown in front of this State Alchemist…he'd lost himself. And he didn't want the Elrics to see that, didn't want them to know that anything had ever happened. Alphonse would be depressed by it, and Edward…would probably go on some kind of murderous rampage. It was better if they didn't know, better if he bore this burden on his own.

"I see," Mustang nodded; he wasn't going to force the man to describe what had happened again. The Elric brothers would find out eventually; they were good at that. But there was also something else about Scar's statement, a barely noticeable hint of protectiveness in his voice, so small that the Ishbalan probably hadn't even noticed it himself. Just seven hours with the pair and Scar, of all people, was becoming protective of them. Maybe this next year wouldn't be quite so impossible after all. Mustang gave another small smile, turning and walking forwards a few steps back towards his desk, "I believe that this concludes our meeting. I'll let you know when the punishment for…those men is decided. Oh, and I almost forgot: you aren't allowed anywhere alone until you've left East City. I have no control over this, nor was it my idea; I'm just passing along the message."

Scar didn't bother protesting; he'd expected something like that. Feeling more than a little relieved that the meeting was over, the Ishbalan stood and walked out of the room, closing the door behind him. In the main room were Edward, Alphonse, and all the soldiers who had been there before, including the small one who had run into him. The second he walked in, all eyes were upon him; it made him just as uneasy as it had the last time, but he managed to walk calmly almost all the way back to where the Elrics stood. About five feet from them, he stopped, finding himself facing a small dilemma: both brothers were standing almost among the soldiers, and to get back to them he would have to get uncomfortably close to people who had been deadly enemies to him for years. And they didn't look too happy with the idea of him getting any closer either.

Ed looked back and forth between the two groups a few times before sighing, "_They_," he said to Scar, pointing to the soldiers, "are not going to kill _you_," Ed then turned to the soldiers, "And _he_," he pointed at Scar, "is not going to kill _you_," he turned back to Scar and pointed at the ground in front of him, "You. Over here with the rest of us."

Scar blinked and stayed right where he was. Ed repeated himself, more emphatically this time. Scar didn't move. Ed marched over to him, and after a few seconds long glaring match, grabbed his left coat sleeve and pulled the Ishbalan over to the others.

"First Lieutenant Hawkeye, Second Lieutenants Breda and Havoc, Warrant Officer Falman, and Sergeant Major Fury," Ed pointed each of the soldiers out in turn, then left the group, heading to the door that Scar had just exited, "I have to go meet with the Colonel. Don't have too much fun without me," and with that, he walked through the door and was gone.

Now surrounded by soldiers whom he didn't know enough to trust at all, Scar took an instinctive half-step towards Alphonse. He was going to get Edward for this later.

* * *

**_A/N:_**_ Ohnoes, poor Scar-san. Only not really, because the Mustang Gang isn't _that _horrible. Hehehe…the bastard ex-guards are gonna get punished! Oh, and also yay for Mustang, who is being helpful in his own _very_ special way. Y'know, Scar and Ed have remarkably similar personalities: they're both stubborn, independent, very firmly set in their opinions and beliefs, and short-tempered (but Scar is about a hundred million times more mature). Wow, none of these sentences have a thing to do with each other. Anywho, the next chapter might take a while, since I've got tons to do right now, but I'll get it up as soon as I can! _


	6. Adjustment

**_Chapter Title:_** _Adjustment  
__**Pairings: **None! I can't write romance for the life of me!  
__**Spoilers: **None  
__**Warnings: **Cursing  
__**Disclaimer: **I wish I owned it, but I don't. Darnit.  
__**A/N: **I'm really sorry this took so long! First a play I was on props crew for sucked my brain out, and then I had writer's block and schoolwork. Blech. Anyway, on with the chapter, the longest one yet!

* * *

_

The woman, Hawkeye, had definitely been the first to get used to Scar's presence among them; he didn't think she'd ever really been afraid of him like the four men had…she certainly hadn't shown it. After Edward had left the room, there had been an extremely awkward silence for several minutes. Then, the woman very calmly reached around behind her back…and too quickly for Scar to even react, had drawn a pistol and fired three times. The Ishbalan froze; he'd _felt_ the bullets pass less than an inch from his skin on both sides of his face and over the top of his head. The room was utterly silent as a few white hairs drifted slowly down to the floor.

"And _now_ you know not to try anything funny, _don't_ you?" Hawkeye stated calmly, locking her rather intimidating gaze directly onto Scar's. The Ishbalan, eyes still wide with shock, immediately gave several, small, _very_ quick nods; he seemed to have temporarily lost the ability to speak. The terrifying First Lieutenant continued, "And you won't give Edward and Alphonse any trouble, _will_ you?" Scar shook his head in the same manner as he had nodded it before, finding himself unable to break his eyes away from hers. Hawkeye's stare intensified, as though she were looking into the Ishbalan's very soul and picking though it for _any _signs that he hadn't been sincere, and Scar suddenly found himself wishing that he were back in the meeting room with Mustang. But before long Hawkeye gave a small nod, looking satisfied with whatever it was she'd seen, and shifted her gaze, "Second Lieutenant Havoc."

"Ma'am!" the man straightened quickly, looking nearly as nervous as Scar.

"I have to leave early today. I trust you can keep some semblance of order here until the Colonel is finished talking with Edward?"

"Yes ma'am, Lieutenant!" Havoc saluted. Only once Hawkeye had left and shut the door behind her did he relax, letting out something of a relieved sigh. He then turned to Scar, who was still looking a few shades paler than normal, with a grin, "Hey, you did pretty well for your first time. And you got _three_, too."

"She…how often does that happen?" Scar wondered just what he had gotten into by being assigned here.

"Oh…at least twice a week. But that's mostly at the Colonel, to get him to do his paperwork," Havoc shrugged, "Don't do or say anything that would annoy her, and you probably won't get shot at again."

Scar gave a kind of half nod, still not feeling very reassured. He glanced back over his shoulder at the white wall, seeing the three brand new holes which he was sure would neatly frame his head if he stood in front of them. He hadn't even had time to react…and he hadn't been that intimidated by a single person in quite some time. Yes, he decided, Hawkeye had certainly earned his respect…and perhaps just a tiny bit of his fear, as well.

"Why do you think she had to leave?" Alphonse's voice broke Scar out of his train of thought.

Breda shrugged, "Not sure. Sick family member, maybe. She had to have gotten the Colonel's permission, so I bet he'd know."

"Oh."

Awkward silence. A polite cough from Falman. More silence. Eventually, Breda spoke up, "So…I heard you sat with Lieutenant Colonel Hughes and Major Armstrong on the train…" when Scar nodded, he continued with a slight grin, "So, just how much do you know about their families now?"

Scar sighed in remembrance, "More than I ever cared to."

Suddenly the soldiers had something in common with the big, intimidating, Ishbalan serial killer: Hughes and Armstrong had given them all the 'family' treatment, and they were all scared of Hawkeye. And in their minds, if he didn't kill Hughes and Armstrong for being their annoying selves, didn't kill Hawkeye for shooting at him, didn't kill Fury for knocking him over, and just in general hadn't shown any aggression, he must not be going to kill _them_. And now that they were past that mental obstacle, Scar wasn't nearly so scary as he had been.

"So, what did you talk about in there?" Alphonse asked Scar politely, gesturing at the meeting room, attempting to keep up the conversation.

"Mostly about how I'm not allowed to kill you," Scar gave a small shrug; he wasn't going to mention Mustang's 'warning', or his recitation of what had happened on the train…not in his present company of Alphonse and a group of soldiers whom he didn't quite trust. If the Flame Alchemist wanted to tell Edward about the warning, let him do so. But Scar could only pray that the incident on the train wouldn't reach either of the Elric brothers' ears…not ever.

Scar was broken out of this train of thought when the door grandly burst open and in walked Armstrong, "Greetings all! I had heard that the Elric brothers and…ah, there you are!" the man walked over to Scar and slapped a hand on his shoulder; Scar could have sworn that he sank an inch into the floor from the strength of the contact, "So good to see you recovered!"

Scar glanced around, seeing the others very slowly and carefully inching away from him and Armstrong as though they were afraid of being the next 'victim', "Yes…?" he ventured in response to the Major's statement.

"Excellent!" Armstrong boomed in his usual dramatic way, then noticed Al and turned his attention upon the animated suit of armor, "Alphonse Elric! I trust that you are getting along well with your and Edward's new charge?"

"Er…yes, Major…" Al replied in the tone that was especially reserved for those talking to Armstrong. Scar was fairly sure that, even if he and Alphonse really _had_ only just met earlier that day and weren't 'getting along' at all, the answer would have been the same; Major Armstrong had a way of doing that to people. Fortunately they were all saved from the Major and his sparkles by the entrance of Ed.

"C'mon Al, Scar," Ed was looking rather sulky about something as he headed directly to the room's exit, glaring directly ahead and not really looking at any of the room's occupants, "We can go now."

"Niisan…" Al sighed, but followed his brother out. Scar walked after them silently, glad to leave the room full of soldiers. The lot of them seemed harmless and friendly enough, but the Ishbalan's distrust and anger towards those wearing the Amestris military uniform was too deeply ingrained to be uprooted easily.

Once the trio had left, Fury said thoughtfully, "He's not so bad, I guess."

Armstrong crossed his arms and nodded in a very Armstrong-esque way, "I believe that he will get along well with the Elric brothers," he struck a pose, "This instinct for determining good relationships has been passed down the Armstrong family line for generations! At any rate, I must be off now, so a temporary farewell to you all!" the big man left, a trail of pink sparkles in his wake.

After a group sigh of relief was voiced, Havoc continued the conversation, "He looked a bit nervous, actually. Didn't want to get anywhere near us."

"Well, this must be pretty hard for him to adjust to. Up till today we were enemies," Breda shrugged, "Can't expect him to like us right away."

There were general murmurs of agreement, and after a few seconds Havoc spoke again, "Hey, remember when you were first assigned with us, Fury? You were kinda nervous and jumpy too. And remember how we fixed that?" he grinned.

Breda let out a bark of laughter, "We _could_!"

"Tomorrow night should be a good time for it," Falman nodded, "We can all go then."

And so these mysterious plans concerning Scar began to be laid out with much laughter, most of it vaguely evil.

* * *

Ed was silent until he, Al, and Scar were all inside their own room with the door closed. Once these conditions had been met, he proceeded to fall backwards onto the bed, lying slanted with his the lower half of his legs hanging over the edge, and looked up at the ceiling with an annoyed expression, "That arrogant bastard…" he muttered to himself.

"Niisan, what is it?" Al asked, and Scar heard the unspoken 'this time' at the end of the sentence.

"He's put us on the easy, boring missions again," Ed grumbled, "We're leaving for Central three days from tomorrow to inspect some of the research laboratories there."

Al tilted his head in confusion, "But why can't someone who's already _in_ Central do that?"

"Hell if I know," Ed glared at the ceiling, "I bet he just enjoys making my life miserable."

"What…_kind_ of research laboratories?" Scar questioned, an uneasy frown appearing on his face; he was pretty sure that he already knew the answer, and he didn't like it one bit.

Ed opened his mouth to answer, then his eyes widened in sudden realization, and he groaned, "Damn, I didn't even think about that," he continued with a sigh, "They're alchemic labs."

Scar was silent, turning his head slightly to the side to stare at a suddenly very interesting bit of wall; his brow was furrowed, but other than that his expression was completely unreadable. Nobody spoke for nearly a minute, and the silence was close to deafening. Finally, the Ishbalan spoke, his voice so quiet that it could barely be heard, "I don't want to go into a place like that," he closed his eyes, frown deepening; he didn't have a choice in the matter, and he knew it. This was some kind of test, it had to be; he didn't think that the military would go to the trouble of waiting for himself and the Elrics to get all the way to Central just to inspect some labs, not when it would be far easier and faster to simply get someone who was already there to do it. They were testing him…no. They were testing the _Elrics_, testing the pair's ability to control him.

"Niisan, maybe you could talk to the Colonel…" Alphonse sounded concerned, "Maybe you wouldn't have to go in with us, Scar-san…"

"No," Scar sighed and opened his eyes, "Even if I had that choice this time, what about the next? And the next? I wouldn't be able to avoid it indefinitely," he paused and swallowed dryly, "I'll have to…" he narrowed his eyes, upper lip curling slightly as though every word disgusted him beyond reason, "…have to get used to it."

"Scar…" Ed trailed off, not quite sure what to say. It was only right then actually hitting home with him just how terrible a punishment this was for the Ishbalan; he'd had something of an idea before, but it had taken the look in Scar's eyes, his expression, his tone in that one moment…

Al spoke up, sensing the tension in the room, "Scar-san, you look tired…would you like to go to sleep?"

Scar gave the boy a grateful look, nodding slowly. Perhaps sleep would relieve him of worry about the upcoming 'mission'…at least for that night. Not to mention he really _was_ tired; two hours of sleep was nowhere near enough to remedy over two weeks of sleep deprivation. But there was one problem, which he voiced as soon as he realized it, "Where?"

"Oh, right…you can take my bed tonight; you need it more than I do," Al said smilingly, gesturing at the bottom bunk of the bed, "And before you ask…yes, I'm sure. Tomorrow we'll probably be able to get you a bed of your own, so it's just for tonight."

Scar opened his mouth to protest, but realized that there would be no arguing Alphonse out of it, and sighed, "What about you?"

"I can just sit and read tonight," Alphonse nudged Scar forwards, "It's okay, really. You need sleep, and I don't. Niisan, that means you too!"

"Hey, don't you order your older brother around!" Ed gave a mock glare, but climbed up onto his bunk anyway.

"I'll order you around all I want!"

Scar nearly smiled, glad of the brothers' presence. No, Colonel Mustang needn't worry about their safety. Not while he was around.

* * *

The next day passed without much incident. Scar stayed in the room for the most part, feeling no need to venture outside of it; since he wasn't allowed to be alone, Alphonse and Edward stayed with him. Hughes and Armstrong came in to visit at one point, staying to chat for nearly an hour before they had to leave and catch their train back to Central. About half an hour after the official military 'workday' had ended and most of the soldiers had either gone home or otherwise, there was a knock on the Elrics' door. Ed got a vaguely evil grin on his face, looking very much as though he already knew who was on the other side and what they wanted.

"Hey, Scar, you're closest. Why don't you answer it?"

If Scar had seen Ed's grin, he never would've gotten anywhere _near _the door. But he didn't see it, and didn't have any suspicions as he walked a short distance to the door and opened it. He was greeted by the sight of Lieutenant Havoc, behind whom stood Breda, Fury, Falman, Mustang, and Hawkeye. All of them were in civilian clothes, and all (with the notable exception of Hawkeye) were grinning like idiots. Before Scar could retreat, Havoc had grabbed his left arm and begun to drag him out of the room.

"Hey, we're stealing your Ishbalan now, okay?" he called into the room.

But instead of protesting and rescuing poor Scar as the now highly confused Ishbalan had hoped he would, Ed just grinned and waved as Scar was dragged completely out into the hallway and Havoc closed the door, "Okay! Have fun, Scar!"

Scar's mouth opened and closed a few times, but no sound came out. Nervous crimson eyes turned to look on the group of soldiers, but as soon as his head turned, a strip of thick white cloth was wrapped around his head to create a very functional blindfold. Now Scar found his voice, "What are you doing?" he nearly shouted, trying to back away.

"Kidnapping you, what does it look like?" Havoc's voice said cheerily as two different peoples' elbows linked tightly with Scar's, preventing him from escaping.

"Calm down, you're fine," Breda's voice joked from somewhere to Scar's left as his captors began to frog-march him down the hallway.

Scar did not want to calm down. In fact, he rather wanted to yell for Edward and Alphonse, but something told him that they not only wouldn't come, but that they'd known about this in advance. Although this in turn meant that the pair was certainly going to have some explaining to do once he got back, it also meant that whatever the soldiers were going to do with him couldn't be _that_ terrible or Alphonse, at least, would have protested. But he still wasn't very happy with the situation, and he decided to make his displeasure known, not by undignified shouting or thrashing, but simply by planting his feet and resisting any kind of forward movement. When his captors only managed to get him a few inches over the course of five minutes, they stopped their futile shoving and he hoped that they'd given up in frustration. But that was not the case, as he soon found out.

"Fury, Falman, get his feet," Mustang's voice stated calmly.

"Yes sir!" the response had a distinct undertone of amusement, and a few seconds later Scar was aware of his feet being lifted off the floor. And so the procession continued on its way.

"Hey, put me down!" Scar protested mightily to this recent development, but his objections fell on deaf ears, "I'll walk, I'll walk!

"Too late," the Colonel's voice came from Scar's right, and the Ishbalan just _knew_ that the man was grinning, "And if you keep yelling like that, we'll be forced to gag you, too."

This threat quieted Scar instantly; he didn't need his dignity being shredded any more than it already was. And so he fumed in silence as he was carried through the halls, outside, and eventually pushed into the middle of the back seat of a car. There was the sound of everyone else climbing in as well, the doors shutting ominously, and the motor being turned on. And then they were on their way to God-knows-where, with the soldiers laughing and joking about people and things that Scar knew absolutely nothing about. They attempted to rope him into their conversations several times, but their efforts were met with stony silence; Scar was far from pleased with the whole business. He'd always had somewhat of a mild phobia of not being able to see, and was steadily getting more and more uncomfortable with the blindfold. But finally, the car stopped and he heard the doors opening.

"Now, are you going to walk this time?" Mustang's voice questioned, and Scar could hear an undertone of both amusement and slight smugness.

Scar nodded silently, and hands guided him out of the car and into the night air. They were on a somewhat crowded street, if the noise was any judge, but he had no idea where. And then his captors turned him around in circles until he could barely tell which way was up anymore, and led him in a zigzag path until they (apparently) reached a door and led him through it.

"Guess where we are!" Havoc said happily.

Scar had known the moment they stepped inside the building. The smell of alchohol was strong and unmistakabe, eliciting a small grimace from the Ishbalan, "A bar."

"Yes!" shouted several voices, and the blindfold was removed. They were in a small but lively bar, with fairly nice interior decoration.

"So…why are we here?" Scar questioned, curious, as the soldiers led him to an empty table and sat him down in a chair.

Breda answered, laughing, "We're going to get to know you better!"

A few minutes later, everyone except Hawkeye had a drink in front of them (she said that she was just there to keep them all somewhat under control). It took a slight bit of coaxing to actually get Scar to drink his, but it wasn't long before the insanity truly began.

* * *

"I hope they're getting along okay…" Al worried out loud. It had been several hours since Scar had been dragged off, and Al was practically pacing, "Niisan, did they tell you where they were taking him?"

"Nope, just that they were and that we couldn't come," Ed shrugged, "Oh, and that it was all harmless fun."

"Okay…" Al sighed, sitting down on the edge of the bed, but springing right back up when someone knocked on the door. Of course, what he saw when he opened the door was not what he expected.

"I believe this is yours," Hawkeye pointed to the opposite wall, against which was slumped Scar. The Ishbalan was deeply asleep, and as Al watched, a quiet snore escaped his partially opened mouth.

"Oh, um…yes, Miss Hawkeye. Thank you for bringing him back," Al gave a grateful nod, then in a slightly worried tone he asked, "He's all right, isn't he?"

"Yes, he's fine," Hawkeye gave a small, amused smile, "I'll have to be going now; there's still some of them that need to be driven home," she turned and walked back down the hallway, barely containing a laugh as she remembered several minutes ago when she'd been prodding a former serial killer who was twice her height down this same stretch of hall. He'd kept trying to just curl up and go to sleep in the middle of the floor, but fortunately she'd managed to keep him moving until they'd reached the Elrics' door. And she still had to get Havoc and Mustang back to their homes…but at least they were awake, so it shouldn't be that difficult. She glanced back one last time, and saw Alphonse gently lifting Scar off the floor and carrying him into the room. She smiled again; perhaps the brothers' kindness would do the man some good. He needed it.

Meanwhile, Al was laying the practically comatose Scar down on his new 'bed'; it was actually just two military cots tied together with a mattress and blankets on top, but it was only temporary after all, and it was the best they could do on short notice and with very limited space.

"Oh, for the love of…they got him drunk!" Ed groaned upon seeing (and smelling) the Ishbalan, "Damn, he's gonna have one hell of a headache tommorrow…"

* * *

True to Ed's prediction, Scar awoke with a splitting headache. And for the rest of the morning and part of the afternoon he mostly just lay there in the dark, occasionally making use of the large bucket Ed had 'found' for him (actually, Ed had transmuted the bucket, but had decided that what Scar didn't know couldn't hurt him). But he wasn't only concentrating on the headache, no, he was also thinking about the group of soldiers. Although he knew he still remained aloof from them, and they were a far cry from being considered friends, he was no longer wary or distrustful of them. They were not his enemies. The _rest_ of the military, however, remained the same in his mind as they always had; if they wanted his trust, they were going to have to earn it.

* * *

It was the morning of the last day of Scar and the Elrics' stay at Eastern Military HQ. Later that afternoon, they would be on a train headed for Central. Scar wasn't sure whether or not he considered this a good thing or not, knowing what awaited him at the end of the journey, but Ed was ecstatic.

"Finally, we can _leave_! I'm so sick of this place that it was about to drive me over the edge!" Ed had been in a good mood since the previous night, and was suddenly getting quite a bit of energy, "Hey, Al, wanna spar? I haven't gotten much exercise since we got dragged out here."

"Sure, niisan. Scar-san, do you want to come too?"

Scar nodded, realizing with a slight bit of guilt that he hadn't trained since he was captured, even after he'd arrived in East City. So he followed the pair outside to an empty, flat patch of ground; there wasn't anyone around either, which suited the trio perfectly. The two brothers went first; their fight was almost like a rehearsed dance, what with Ed's acrobatics and Al's weaving and blocking. Eventually, though, Al proved to be the victor.

"Hey, Scar, let's see if I'm any match for you when you're not using that arm of yours," Ed grinned once he'd gotten up.

Scar shrugged, "Very well. If we are to work together for a year, it would be wise to learn each others' fighting styles," he stood, stretched, and walked over to the makeshift practice ring, "Let us see if you've gotten any faster."

Ed smirked and unconsciously fell into a pre-fight pose, while Scar did the same. After a few seconds of opponent evaluation, the two sprang into motion. Ed started half a second slower, and Scar pressed this to his advantage, using this time to cross the distance between them and aim a punch at the boy's side. Ed only just barely ducked out of the way, falling to the ground and swinging his legs around in an attempt to knock Scar's feet out from under him. It was at too close a range for Scar to dodge, so he let it happen, but instead of falling all the way to the ground he landed on his hands and used his arms to propel himself back onto his feet.

"Clever move, but not quite fast enough to catch me off guard," Scar stated calmly as he rushed towards Ed once more. It had been a long time since he'd fought without the intent of harming his opponent; it was more difficult than a real fight. But he also found that he was thoroughly enjoying this exercise; there was no real danger in it, no pressing need to end the match as quickly as possible before he was injured or killed, no threat of unpredictable and deadly alchemy. As the fight progressed, Scar realized that they had somewhat of an audience. Nearly twenty passing soldiers had stopped to watch, and a quick glance at the building revealed quite a few people looking out windows. He could hear whispered bets being placed, some on Ed but mostly on him. But at the moment they were of little consequence to him, and he tuned them out, returning his full attention to the fight. As Ed aimed a jumping kick at his chest, he got an idea; grabbing onto the outstretched leg, he twisted it so that the the surprised boy was facing the ground and then swung around in a complete circle, twisted him rightside up, and let go. As he'd thought, the unexpected twisting and swinging had made the boy too dizzy to catch himself or flip, and Ed flew several feet before hitting the ground.

"Okay, okay, you win," Ed propped himself up on his elbows, "Nice trick, there."

Scar nodded in thanks, then reached down and lifted the boy up by the collar of the red coat he'd refused to shed in 'public', placing him back down on his feet, "You're still slow."

Ed 'hmph'-ed, then looked around; apparently he'd only just noticed that they had quite the audience, "Looks like we're not getting any PRIVACY," he shouted the last word over his shoulder, "around here. C'mon, let's go get our stuff together so we can get to the train station on time."

Al sighed, Scar shrugged, and the trio began the walk back to their room. They were almost there when they were stopped by Mustang, "I would like to have a quick word with you, Scar, if you don't mind," the Colonel stated calmly, looking directly into the Ishbalan's eyes.

Ed opened his mouth to speak, but Scar waved him off, "Go on ahead, it's fine," he waited until they'd gotten out of hearing range before speaking again, "What is it?"

The Colonel gave an amused smirk, "I watched your little match with Edward just now; it was quite good. But that's not why I'm here," he lowered his voice, "Those men from the train were put on trial the day after you met with me. They were accused of deliberate, independent, and unprovoked cruelty and torture of their charge…and found very guilty indeed. Add all the other factors, and they wound up with quite the sentence. Five months probation and a demotion of two ranks, and I highly doubt they'll get any kind of important or interesting job for a while."

Scar was so overwhelmed that he couldn't think of anything to say for several seconds; when he did find his voice again, he was almost too quiet to be heard, "You have my thanks, Flame Alchemist Roy Mustang."

He gave a short laugh, "You don't need to call me by my full name and title, you know. At any rate, how have you been doing?"

Scar thought on this for a few seconds, "Adjusting."

* * *

_**A/N: **Ack, this was horrendously late. My apologies. I hope the next one doesn't take so long. But anyway, this chapter turned out to be almost a full eight pages long, which I'm slightly amazed about. In other news, I've found something of a theme song for this story: 'So Far Away' by Staind. The lyrics match the story pretty well, and it's a good song, too. Oh, and also, starting with this chapter I can start replying to reviews again with that new reply thing._


	7. Difficulties

_**Chapter Title:** Difficulties  
__**Pairings: **None! I can't write romance for the life of me!  
__**Spoilers: **Yeah, for the Philosopher's Stone (Episode 18) and for Scar's past.  
__**Warnings: **Cursing  
__**Disclaimer: **I wish I owned it, but I don't. Darnit.  
__**A/N: **Merry late Christmas (or whatever holiday you celebrate)! Ick, sorry this took forever…I didn't really actually get to start it 'til Christmas break (teachers piled work and tests and essays on us like never before…).  
__Scar: And then she suddenly got very lazy.  
__Ehe…anywho, I hope you enjoy this chapter!

* * *

_

There weren't many people on the train from East City to Central; the Elrics and Scar were almost alone in their car. The only other people were an older, grey-haired man sitting about seven seats away, and a mother with two young boys sitting all the way in the back of the car. There were more people in the other cars, but Scar hadn't wanted to be around unfamiliar people any more than necessary. Even though there were only three other people, he was wearing sunglasses to hide his eyes and had hunched his shoulders slightly in an instinctive attempt to be inconspicuous.

"Scar, nobody's going to leap out and attack you," Ed was plainly amused by Scar's nervousness.

"I _know_ that," Scar gave Ed a slightly annoyed look, then turned to stare out the window again, watching the scenery rush by. They'd been on the train for about two and a half hours already, and it would be nearly midnight by the time they reached Central. The Ishbalan gave a small sigh; he didn't like trains. This made the fourth train ride he'd taken in the past two years, and the last three hadn't been that wonderful. The jokes that the Elrics had made about hijackers didn't really do much to boost his confidence. After a while, he turned his head back to look at the two brothers, and saw that they were having a conversation.

"Maybe we can see if they recovered anything while we're there," Al was suggesting.

Ed sighed, "Doubt it. Damn…all our research was in there, along with the notes…"

Scar spoke up, curious, "What are you two talking about?"

Ed looked over at him, "Remember how the First Branch of Central's library burned down?" at Scar's nod, he continued, "Well, we'd been in the middle of researching something important before Mustang sent us off on that vacation…and all our notes were in the Branch, so they were destroyed in the fire," Ed narrowed his eyes in frustration, "Our only good lead, gone."

Scar nodded; so that's why they'd been so surprised and upset about the First Branch having burned down. But this explanation had prompted another question, "A lead on what?"

The brothers shared a look, then turned back to Scar. Al seemed amused, "That's right, we haven't told you yet, have we?"

"For the past three years, we've been searching for the Philosopher's Stone…what?" Ed looked at Scar curiously.

As soon as he had heard the words 'Philosopher's Stone', Scar's eyes had widened, then narrowed into the expression he wore when he was angry about something and trying not to show it. Abruptly, he stood, "I'm going outside," was all he said before walking quickly to the exit door of the car.

"Hey, wait!" Al called, but Scar had already gone through the door and closed it behind him.

"Leave him, Al," Ed sighed, "It was something about the Stone, I'll bet. Just…he looked like he needs to be alone a while. He'll come back in here eventually, and then we can try and get him to explain."

* * *

It was raining now: not quite a storm, but certainly no light drizzle. Scar didn't care; he wasn't going back in there. It had been hours, and he'd spent the whole time mulling over this new fact that had been brought to light. The Philosopher's Stone…the Elrics were looking for that accursed thing. He gritted his teeth; they didn't know the truth…not if they were still looking for it…they _couldn't_ know…

"Scar-san…please come back inside. It's raining really hard…" Scar looked up at Alphonse, startled by the boy's unexpected presence.

Narrowing his eyes, he looked off to the side and growled, "I'm fine. Leave me alone."

He heard Alphonse sigh, and after a few seconds heard a kind of odd scraping noise that he recognized instantly. But before he could turn around and protest, there was a blue flash of light and part of the train car's wall jutted out a few feet over his head, creating a somewhat decent shelter from the rain. He glared at it for a few moments before turning off to the side again, very pointedly ignoring Alphonse as the boy sat down next to him, "I'm sorry, but you'll get sick again if you sit out here in the rain without any cover," he offered apologetically, "I'll fix it later."

Scar just grunted, narrowing his eyes and glaring at nothing. Nearly a minute later he finally spoke, "That's not the point."

"What isn't?"

"Fixing it afterwards. You still changed it."

Alphonse didn't reply, which suited Scar just fine. He didn't really want to get into a debate about alchemy with the boy, who could be even more stubborn than Edward in his own way. He sat there in silence for a while, concentrating on nothing but the rain. Eventually, though, Alphonse broke the silence, as Scar knew he would.

"Why were you so upset when we mentioned the Philosopher's Stone?"

Scar gritted his teeth, "That cursed thing…you don't know how terrible it truly is."

Alphonse was quiet for a few moments, and when he next spoke his voice was completely serious, "You know something, don't you?"

"Not much," Scar's eyes and voice took on a sad overtone, "But what I do know…the creation requires a great sacrifice," his eyes lowered, and he spoke through clenched teeth, "Human lives, human souls…and many of them."

He heard a sharp gasp from Alphonse, "Are…are you sure?"

"My brother tried to create one during the massacre. I do not know exactly what he did, but…" Scar paused for a second, fighting back the pain that came with memory. Once he'd mostly regained control of his emotions, he pushed up the right sleeve of his coat, lifting the arm so that the twining black tattoo was clearly visible, "This is all that remains of him and his effort."

"But…maybe that's not the only way…" Alphonse sounded desperate, more like he was trying to convince himself of this than attempting to argue with Scar.

This Ishbalan was confused, "You _still_ wish to pursue it? Why? What will obtaining the Stone grant you that is so important?"

The boy's reply was so quiet that Scar could barely hear it, "Our bodies back," he turned to the Ishbalan, his voice getting slightly louder and more determined, "Niisan's arm and leg, and my real body. We're going to use the Stone to get them back."

Now, finally, Scar turned to look at the boy. So that was their reason…it was a good one, and the Ishbalan understood now why Alphonse didn't want to stop searching for it even when given the truth. But the fact still remained that nothing but misfortune came to anyone pursuing the Philosopher's Stone. And he would not allow it to destroy these two like it had his brother. He sighed, "If I cannot stop you…neither will I help you."

"But-" Al began to argue, but Scar held up a hand to stop him.

"Let me finish. This only applies to the Stone. I _will_ help you find a _different_ way to restore you to your proper form," the Ishbalan's eyes were all seriousness, and he hoped beyond hope that this tactic would work. He didn't know how else he could stop them, short of threatening them. And that was something he absolutely refused to do.

Alphonse was silent for a few moments, "Maybe we should wait until we get to Central, so we can talk about it with niisan. There's not enough room for all three of us out here, and inside isn't private enough."

"Very well," Scar gave a small shrug. That would give him some time to formulate an argument for Ed, whom he knew wouldn't be very easy to convince, "I will remain out here. You can go back inside if you wish."

"No, I'll stay with you," Al said cheerfully. He didn't want Scar to be out here in the rain at all, but if the Ishbalan had to be then he should at least have some company.

Scar gave a grateful nod, then resumed staring out into the downpour. The pair sat in companionable silence for a while, until, surprisingly, Scar was the one to speak.

"How did you and Edward lose your bodies in the first place?" he asked cautiously, hoping that the question wouldn't make the boy overly uncomfortable or depressed.

Alphonse looked up, somewhat startled by the sudden question, "Well…I guess you deserve to know, don't you Scar-san? Okay, I'll tell you. When we were young, our mother got really sick and died…"

* * *

Scar and Alphonse remained outside until the sun had set and the moon risen, as at that point the temperature began to drop significantly.

"Scar-san, you're shivering," Al pointed out worriedly, "We should go in now…"

The stubborn Ishbalan shook his head, protesting, "I'm fine. I'm just…not very good with cold weather."

This was quite the understatement. He _hated_ cold. After growing up in the desert heat of Ishbal, he'd found that once he was in Amestris he was extremely susceptible to any kind of drop in temperature. He'd spent his three freezing winters in this country in complete misery, even going so far as to halt his mission until spring came. It was definitely one of his few weaknesses, fortunately one that the military had never discovered. But even though he was really starting to get cold, he didn't want to go back into the train car.

"You're going to get sick again! Come on, we're going inside," Al stood up and grabbed Scar's arm to pull him up as well.

Scar, however, wasn't going to give in that easily, "I _said_ I'm _fine_," he practically growled, pulling his arm away.

"Don't make me pick you up and carry you in, because I _will_," Al warned, holding out his hand again.

"Hnn," Scar grunted, narrowing his eyes. But he took the offered hand anyway, pulling himself up; he nearly hit his head on the overhang, but remembered that it was there just in time to avoid that. He very pointedly looked the other way as Alphonse fixed the wall back the way it had been, allowing the rain to briefly soak them in the few seconds before they hurriedly stepped inside.

As they drew closer to their seats, Ed turned around, "Finally! I'd been wondering if you guys'd fallen off the train or something. And you're both soaking wet. C'mere, Al, you're going to rust."

"Right, niisan," Al said sheepishly, walking over to his brother. A clap and a flash of blue light, and a cloud of steam rose from Al's surface into the air, where it dissipated quickly. Al was left completely dry.

"Hey, Scar, I can do it for you too," Ed offered, "I'm only evaporating the water, so it'd happen naturally anyway. This is just faster."

Scar's eyes widened slightly at the idea, and he very nearly took a step backwards, "No. Absolutely not."

"You're going to get sick again, sitting in wet clothes," Ed held out his hand, "At least give me the jacket," he saw Scar's confused look, and a metaphorical light bulb was switched on, "Oh…_you_ thought that I was going to…oh. Well, I wasn't. If I did, you'd wind up with some nasty burns. I can only do it to your clothes," he grinned, "So don't worry, no alchemy is going to be touching you in any way. I wouldn't do that to you."

Scar gave a barely audible sigh of relief, mentally berating himself for his paranoia. Of course Edward would know better than to even consider transmuting something right on him, no matter how rash about alchemy the boy was. But even so, for that brief moment he could have sworn that his heart skipped at least one beat at the idea of contact with another transmutation. Briefly casting his eyes about to alleviate any lingering nervousness, he realized that the other occupants of the car were staring. Knowing full well that Ed wasn't going to be giving up any time soon, the Ishbalan sighed, his desire to remain inconspicuous now warring with his aversion to alchemy. In the end, being inconspicuous won. He slid into his seat before taking off his coat and wordlessly handing it to Ed, not looking at either of the brothers.

The train rumbled on.

* * *

It had stopped raining by the time the train pulled into Central's station, although heavy clouds still obscured the stars and moon. Unfortunately, Scar thought as he pulled his coat closer around him, it seemed to have gotten even colder. He and the Elrics were currently heading for a hotel where they could stay while they were in Central. They wouldn't be starting their 'mission' until the next morning, and Scar was dreading it with every fibre of his being. And he still had to convince the brothers to stop their search for the Philosopher's Stone, too…he could only pray that he would be able to manage it.

* * *

It had _not_ gone over well with Ed. It had started as a calm discussion, then escalated into a shouting match which had climaxed when Ed had grabbed the nearest thing available (fortunately, it had been a pillow rather than, say, a chair…) and thrown it at Scar's head. The irate little alchemist had then stomped out of the room, leaving behind a somewhat stunned Scar and Al.

Now it was the next morning, and the trio was on their way to the first of the four alchemic research labs that they were to inspect. Ed had been incredibly quiet and moody the entire morning, and hadn't spoken a word to Scar. Said Ishbalan was wisely keeping his distance from the elder Elric brother, not wishing to provoke any further argument. He was beginning to wish that he hadn't brought it up in the first place; this feeling only intensified as they were greeted at the entrance to the first lab by an older man who looked like a scientist.

"Welcome, Major Elric sir. I'm to escort you and your…charge," he briefly gave Scar a look of thinly veiled disgust, as one might give a run-over squirrel or something of the like. Scar clenched his teeth in anger, but let it pass, remembering Mustang's warning; he couldn't afford to lose his temper…the consequences were too great. The scientist continued, "around the laboratory as you make your inspection."

Ed just nodded, "Right then, let's go. C'mon, Al, Scar."

* * *

By the time the trio had gotten around to the fourth lab, Scar wasn't sure how much more he could take. Al had been like a pillar of support and reassurance the whole time, and the Ishbalan couldn't be more grateful to the boy. But now…

"No civilians," a soldier outside the lab held out his hand to stop Al from continuing, "Only the State Alchemist and his charge. Sorry, but those are my orders."

Ed sighed, and turned to Al, "No getting around that, I don't think. Do you mind waiting out here a while?"

"No, I'll be fine. It's not the first time, after all," Al didn't seem upset at all, accepting it in stride.

Scar, however, was far from pleased. Edward, although he didn't seem to still be angry or frustrated at him, had yet to speak to him; he would essentially be going into that place alone, and this unsettled him.

"Go on, Scar-san, it'll be okay," Al whispered, briefly placing a hand on Scar's shoulder and giving it a reassuring little squeeze before letting go.

Scar gave a grateful nod before walking after Ed, who'd already started towards the lab. He'd handled the last three labs, and he'd do the same with this one; he just wouldn't think about it, wouldn't let any of it actually soak in. He could do this. He _would_ do this.

* * *

He couldn't do this. They'd been led around through the stark hallways and lab rooms, and the occasional researcher hurrying past would give Scar a disdainful glance. This was no different than the last three labs had been. But then something different happened; their guide was talking excitedly to Ed (and being ignored by Scar), and brought them into a larger room. And in the center of the room…a cage containing a chimera. Scar wasn't sure what it was made of, it looked like a mix between a large cat and possibly a reptile of some kind, but that didn't matter.

"It's nearly perfect, quite a breakthrough…" their guide was babbling away, but Scar wasn't paying attention.

A chimera. A nightmarish abomination created from alchemy…Scar's expression was one of barely-concealed horror. So this was why no 'civilians' were permitted inside; the other labs had been researching simpler things, like amplification and plant growth…but _this_…he felt a stinging pain in both his palms, and he looked down to discover that he'd been clenching his fists tightly enough for his nails to draw blood. Unbidden, images of the pain-filled creature that was once human flashed through his mind; the first time he'd used his right arm had been to give it peace. But he couldn't do the same for this poor beast.

'_If you cause an unnecessary amount of trouble, you _will_ find yourself reassigned._'

He gritted his teeth, remembering Mustang's words. Destroying this chimera would be seen as 'unnecessary trouble', he was certain of that much. He had to endure this…he didn't have a choice.

When at last Scar and Ed walked out of the doors of the Fourth Lab, Al was there to greet them.

"Niisan, Scar-san!" he waved at them from behind the fence. Once they reached him, he looked down at Ed, who had become somewhat withdrawn and sad-looking after seeing the chimera, "Niisan, what is it?"

"A chimera. They're making chimeras," the young alchemist replied quietly, "They're obviously not going as far as Tucker, but you can't help but wonder how long it'll be before…"

Al cut him off, "Stop it, niisan. That's illegal, they can't do that kind of thing. Tucker was executed for it, remember?"

"What kind of thing?" Scar asked, curious at how the Elrics seemed to be as adverse to chimeras as he was. What reason did they have?

Al sighed, "Three years ago, before niisan became a State Alchemist, we stayed at the home of a man named Shou Tucker while niisan waited to take the test. He was a State Alchemist, because two years before he'd managed to make a chimera that could speak. He had a little girl named Nina, and a big white dog named Alexander," Al's voice was so sad by now that Scar was sure the boy would be crying if he could.

Ed picked up the story, "Soon after I passed the test to become a State Alchemist…I started finding some things out, and got suspicious. When I tried to look into what Tucker had done with the talking chimera at the First Branch, we were told to leave the Tucker residence by Brigadier General Gran. We snuck back in the next night…and Tucker had created another talking chimera…using Nina and Alexander. It turned out that he'd used his wife to make the last one. The sick bastard wasn't even sorry…" Ed clenched his fists, voice shaking with anger, "Gran came, and Tucker was arrested. They were going to cart Nina off to some lab, but I overturned the truck and she got away. By the time we found her…it was too late. She'd been killed…" Ed trailed off, eyes widening slightly in stunned realization. He turned to look up at Scar, his gaze accusing, "…in exactly the same way you killed people, Scar."

Al made a kind of stunned noise, speaking in a tone of disbelief, "Scar-san…?"

Scar didn't reply at first, staring at Ed in something very close to horror. It all made sense now…perfect, terrible, horrifying sense. The half human creature running loose…someone had turned their own daughter into that thing. And apparently, the Elrics had been very close to this 'Nina'. He swallowed dryly; he wasn't ashamed of what he'd done, but things had just gotten very, very difficult. He spoke cautiously, "Yes, I did send a chimera to Ishbala's side three years ago. It…_she_ saw me, and came to me…she was in more pain than any living thing should be made to bear, and there was no way to restore her. I gave her peace, and I do not regret doing so."

Ed didn't move for a few seconds, head down and shoulders shaking. Then without warning, he aimed a punch at Scar's face, shouting angrily, "Whether she lived or not wasn't for you to decide!"

Scar could have dodged the punch, could have done so easily. But he knew better; to dodge it would have only frustrated Ed further. And besides, if him getting hurt could help the boy to accept what had happened and move on, then he would allow himself to get hurt. So he let the punch connect with the side of his face, allowing a small wince when he realized that Ed had used his automail arm. _That_ was going to bruise and swell up nicely…

"Niisan!" Al shouted at his brother, shocked.

Fortunately, further confrontation was avoided for the time being when an out-of-breath soldier ran up to the trio, and saluted, "Major Elric sir! There's been a slight change in your mission. Lab Four was supposed to be your last inspection, but now the higher ups have asked that you inspect the abandoned Lab Five as well."

"What? Why?"

"There have been several strange occurrences around that Lab lately; they want a skilled alchemist to investigate. You are to go tomorrow afternoon, and look around inside. Those were the orders they told me to give to you."

Ed sighed, his voice betraying his current foul mood, "Fine, we'll be there."

The soldier saluted again, and turned to walk away. But as he did so, Scar thought he saw a glint of malice in the soldier's eye, and a faint smirk of triumph. But it was gone so quickly that the Ishbalan soon dismissed it as nothing more than his imagination.

* * *

_**A/N: **DUNDUNDUUUUNNNNN…muahahaha, Lab Five…of course, it'll be a lot different, due to the altered timeline and the fact that Scar's there and whatnot. I'm going to try to keep it similar, but not as though I've just pasted Scar in (well, he was there anyway, but you know what I mean…) Still trying to figure out what exactly is going to happen, so next chapter might take a while. Anyway, so now most of the skeletons are out of the closet for our most favorite trio. And also, I've managed to mostly dig myself out of the giant timeline hole I dug myself with Illness. What happened was that the Elrics got to the First Branch after getting Ed's automail fixed, started working on Marco's research, and then Illness happened before they found out that the Philosopher's Stone was made of people. So now Scar had to tell 'em, and Ed wasn't happy about it. He was _about_ to apologize to Scar for freaking out and throwing a pillow at him, but then he found out about Nina and…yeah. So now he's _really_ mad at poor Scar-san. Think that's all I was gonna say for now…so until next time! _


	8. Enter the Lab

**_Chapter Title:_** _Enter the Lab  
__**Pairings: **None! I can't write romance for the life of me!  
__**Spoilers: **For the 5th Lab (obviously…)  
__**Warnings: **Cursing  
__**Disclaimer: **I wish I owned it, but I don't. Darnit.  
_**_A/N: _**_I'm really, really, really, really, really sorry for the long wait, you guys. This was the freaking hardest chapter to figure out and write _ever_. But on the plus side, I've actually managed to plan out the entire Lab arc during the wait, so the next chapter probably won't take nearly so long (or at least not for the same reasons…). Anyway, I don't want to take up too much of your time before you get to the story with a rant about how stupid Barry didn't want to fit anywhere, so I put it at the bottom where you aren't actually required to scroll through it to get to the chapter. Anywho, onwards!

* * *

_

To say that the atmosphere of the hotel room that night was tense would be an extreme understatement. Ed was sitting on his bed, facing the wall very deliberately and positively _radiating _anger. Scar was almost perfectly calm, sitting on the edge of _his_ bed and holding a small bag of ice against the cheek Ed had punched; true to his mental prediction, there was swelling and large yellow-green bruise which made talking somewhat uncomfortable, so he remained silent and stared out the window. Al was sitting in a chair up against the far wall, right between the two. The poor suit of armor kept glancing worriedly at each of them in turn; he knew he ought to be upset with Scar, but he couldn't quite bring himself to be. The Ishbalan hadn't known Nina…he'd done what he'd thought was right, and Al couldn't hate him for that. But Ed…he knew that Ed could hold a grudge like nothing else and didn't often let anything change his mind once he'd made it up. He could only hope that his big brother would let this go…preferably soon.

* * *

The second he laid eyes on it, the Fifth Laboratory made Scar uneasy. It might have been the huge, intimidating stone wall, complete with barbed wire, that surrounded the entire perimeter. It might have been the iron-barred gate and various other barricades, or the fact that the entire place looked utterly _dead_. It also could have been that the prison next door was the very one that he had just been released from. Whatever it was, it made him nervous and he decided right there that he didn't like this place one bit.

"Niisan, there's nobody else here," Al pointed out.

Ed shrugged, "What's wrong with that? The place is supposed to be abandoned."

"But how are we going to get in if there's nobody to open the gate?"

"Uh…" clearly Ed had not realized this dilemma until just then, but it didn't phase him for long. He thought for a few seconds before grinning and clapping his hands; within seconds there was a nice wide opening in the bars of the gate. He climbed through carefully, avoiding the trip-wires that might set off an alarm, "There. Come on through, I'll fix it once you're both in. Watch out for the wires."

Al stepped through, but Scar hesitated, giving the lab an uneasy glance, "I don't like this."

"You didn't like the other labs either," Ed shrugged, not turning around; he was very obviously still harboring quite a bit of animosity towards Scar at the moment.

Scar shot the stubborn alchemist a small glare, "This is different than the other labs…why would there be nobody here to open the gate if they knew we were coming? Something isn't right."

"Quit being so paranoid and come on."

"Niisan…he might be right, we should listen to him…" Al spoke up, looking back and forth from Ed to Scar worriedly.

Ed's shoulders stiffened, "Why are you siding with _him_?"

Now Al was just plain frustrated with his older brother and his bullheadedness, almost shouting his reply, "There aren't any _sides_, niisan! Scar-san knows what he's talking about, and we should listen to what he has to say!"

"And since when do _I _not know what I'm talking about?"

"You're just-"

"Enough," Scar's deep voice was only somewhat raised in order to stop the argument, but that was enough to cause both the brothers to turn and stare in surprise. He continued in the same tone, "This is not the time for arguments," he took a deep breath and stepped through the opening, being careful of the alarm wires. He still didn't like this place one bit, but it would not help anything if they were fighting amongst themselves, and he didn't want to complicate things any more than they already were.

"Hey, Al, are you gonna come inside or stay out here?" Ed was already at the door, looking like he was thinking about whether or not he was going to alchemize it like he had the gate.

Al thought for a few moments, then shook his head, "If the last one was off limits to civilians, this one probably is too. I'll just wait out here. And besides," he said in a joking tone that had almost a strained note in it, as though he was trying to lighten the tension that was brewing, "if the place collapses, who else is around to dig you guys out?"

Ed shrugged, "Good point," and transmuted a gap in the huge iron doors that was just big enough for Scar to get through, "C'mon, let's get this over with."

Scar took one last look around before giving a small sigh and following Ed into the darkness of the lab. This place might not unnerve the young alchemist, but the Ishbalan would be on his guard. To do otherwise would be foolish.

* * *

The pair had only been walking through the gloom of the lab for a few minutes when the hall branched off into two passages.

"You go that way," Ed pointed down the left hall, "and I'll go the other way, and we can meet back here when we're finished," the way he spoke, tonelessly and without looking in the Ishbalan's direction, was a clear indicator that the boy was still fairly angry with Scar.

The Ishbalan just nodded, knowing better than to do anything else with the mood Edward was in. But as the boy began to walk away down his chosen hall, Scar spoke quietly, "Be careful."

Ed gave no indication that he'd heard, and before long he was lost to Scar's eyes in the darkness, and the Ishbalan was alone. Without a word, Scar began to walk down his own hall, even his own breath seeming to become loud in the silence. He wasn't sure how long he walked through the hall, briefly checking inside whatever doors he happened to come across. There was nothing but dust, old furniture, and the occasional empty file drawer or broken test tube, and the utter pointlessness of being here was beginning to grate on Scar's nerves. But even though there continued to be nothing really suspicious about the place, there was still a distinct feeling of _wrongness _pervading the very air that kept Scar on his guard. And this unease was what saved him when a gigantic creature flew out of the darkness at his back. He'd managed to hear it before it had leapt at him, and dodged quickly out of the way, swinging his right hand around to land on it. With a crackle of red lightning and a kind of 'splut' noise, his attacker was no more. He took a closer look at it and saw that it wasn't a creature as he'd first assumed, but a monstrously fat, gorilla-like human. Edward would not be happy. Too bad for Edward.

"Nicely done, scarred man," a sultry voice caused him to whirl around, and, when he saw who stood before him, freeze in shock. A smirking woman with flowing black hair and a rather revealing black dress stood about ten feet away. But even in the dimmed light of the lab, he could see her face…the face of one who had died a great many years ago.

For a moment he could do nothing but stare wordlessly, eyes widening in confusion, but eventually he managed to find words, his shock at the woman's appearance leaking into his voice, "You…why do you have that face…?"

The woman tilted her head slightly in confusion, her smirk still in place, "I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about, scarred man," he saw her eyes glitter dangerously, and she called in an authoritative tone, "Gluttony."

Suddenly, Scar felt a looming presence directly behind him, and, before he had time to move, the Ishbalan was enveloped by a pair of huge, thick arms which pulled him backwards and held him tightly to their owner's chest. An almost childish voice exclaimed happily, "I caught him, Lust! Can I eat him?"

Scar had instinctively begun struggling the second it had caught him, but this proclamation caused him to whip his head around in shock…and he found himself looking up at the grinning face of the fat, human-like creature he'd just _killed_.

"No, Gluttony, not now," the woman took a few steps closer, "Stop struggling, scarred man. We are not here to kill you. I've come with a…proposition for you."

Although externally Scar wore a strong glare of defiance, internally he was fighting tooth and nail to quell the panic and confusion that was threatening to overwhelm him at the fact that he was trapped in the grip of a creature who had not only expressed the desire to eat him but had also been _dead_ less than a minute before, and that a woman who was mostly identical to his brother's long-dead lover was standing before him. However, he did cease his struggles, instead opting to determine a more effective method of escape while the woman talked; he had no intention of agreeing to any proposition _she_ had for him.

The woman smirked and said in a mock-scolding tone, "Don't give me that look, scarred man. This is one deal that you should find to be quite beneficial to you. Help me with just one little thing," her eyes glinted, "and in return, I can give you your freedom."

Scar's eyes widened. His…freedom? To no longer be chained to the military? The prospect was so wonderful that he opened his mouth to agree with her almost immediately, but, fortunately, common sense reached his mind in time to stop that, and he closed it again. '_Never agree to anything without knowing what you are agreeing to!_' his brother had once advised him, and he mentally cursed himself for nearly having made so stupid a mistake. His eyes narrowed again, "What is it that you want me to do? I will not agree until I know."

For a moment, he swore he saw a flicker of disappointment and anger flit across the woman's face; he assumed it was because he had not been so overcome by the prospect of freedom to agree without thinking. That didn't say anything good for what she was going to ask him to do. But the expression was gone within seconds, replaced with her former smug look, "You are to help us…_convince_ Edward Elric to create the Philosopher's Stone for us, should he disagree to."

A cold, jolting feeling of shock went through Scar's stomach as he heard this, and it was quickly followed by raw, seething anger. His eyes narrowed almost to slits, and he bared his teeth in a snarl as he spoke, his voice low and dangerous, "You…want me to _harm_ the boy in order for him to create that accursed Stone…"

The woman looked surprised at his vehemence and quickly amended, "Not _harm_ him necessarily…perhaps trick him into making it…he would trust you more than he would us…"

Scar growled, "And you want me to betray that trust for my own gain. My freedom is not worth that, nor is it worth the creation of such a terrible thing as the Philosopher's Stone."

Irritation and impatience crossed the woman's features for a few moments, but then she seemed to regain control of herself and sent him a somewhat condescending smirk, "Come now, scarred man, reconsider. Surely a State Alchemist couldn't mean _that_ much to you…"

"That is where you are wrong," Scar interrupted, eyes blazing, "And there is _nothing_ you can offer me that can make me willingly betray the Elric brothers," his right arm crackled with red light, "Nothing."

And with that last word, there was suddenly a sizeable hole in the side of the creature who had been holding him. Scar knew now that it wasn't going to be down permanently, but used the few seconds slack in its grip to slip free and dart away from it. But he wasn't expecting the woman's fingernails to extend into razor sharp spears, and only barely dodged; five, long, bloody gashes now adorned his left arm. He was lucky, seeing as how they had actually been aimed at his chest and vital organs. Now the Ishbalan stood with his back against the wall, clutching his freely bleeding arm and glaring at the two creatures standing before him.

"That was a mistake, scarred man, and you're going to pay for it," the woman-creature retracted her bloodied claws, smirking at Scar's defiant expression.

"Now can I eat him, Lust?" the fat one whined, looking at the Ishbalan with a hungry gleam in its eyes.

Scar slipped into a battle stance, right arm crackling dangerously. These were no slow State Alchemists, their moves sloppy with arrogance and disuse. He was really going to have to fight for his life now.

* * *

"How the _hell _did the scientists get around in here…?" Ed grumbled to himself as he finally reached the end of the booby-trap filled hallway. About ten minutes ago he'd finally gotten sick of nearly being killed every few seconds, and had transmuted the entire hallway solid. He wondered for a moment if Scar's hallway had been like this one, and, despite his current anger at the Ishbalan, a small stab of worry went through him; he himself had only escaped being killed because of his (although he was loath to admit it) smaller size, and Scar wouldn't have been able to get rid of the traps through alchemy like he could. He shook it off, though, telling himself that Scar could take perfectly good care of himself and that he could get back to being furious with the Ishbalan. Besides, he had his 'inspection' to worry about right now.

The traps had made him somewhat suspicious that there might be something going on, and the fact that there were working lights in a supposedly long-abandoned lab was also strange. His level of suspicion skyrocketed when he pushed open the heavy iron doors at the end of the hall and was greeted by a massive room…with human skeletons scattered across the floor. He grimaced in disgust as he took a few steps forward and accidentally knocked his foot into a skull.

"I'm surprised you made it this far, boy," a deep, resonating voice spoke from the shadows of the room.

Momentarily startled, Ed took a step back before regaining his composure, asking confidently, "Who's there?"

"I am," the voice was now accompanied by a huge figure, who Ed saw was wearing an almost samurai-style suit of armor, and wielding a huge sword, "Number 48, a guardian of this lab. You are an intruder, and I am obliged to eliminate you."

* * *

Al stood patiently outside in the courtyard, leaning against the cement wall of the lab building, wondering how long it would take for Ed and Scar to go through the whole thing. It had been a little over half an hour since they'd gone in, and with the size this place was…he sighed. He'd be out here for a while longer. At least it was afternoon and not night; he was pretty sure that darkness would make this place even creepier than it already was.

"I hope they're not fighting…" he sighed quietly to himself, casting a worried glance at the entrance to the lab.

"EEEEEEYAAAHAHAHAAHAAAAA!" a loud, maniacal mixture of a scream and a laugh echoed through the courtyard, seconds before its source came into view, leaping down from the roof directly at Al.

Caught by surprise, Al barely managed to dodge the knife that the person swung at him. At second glance, he saw that the person was wearing a bulky suit of armor, smaller than his but still fairly large, with a kind of furry-edged, brown tunic-like garment over that. The helmet was a terrifying, sharp-toothed skull from an animal of some kind, with a huge mane of white hair attached to the back. In one hand, he held a huge meat cleaver, and in the other a smaller carving knife. After the initial attack, the person stood, unmoving, a few feet away from Al, who questioned nervously, "W-who are you?"

The person spoke, his voice holding a somewhat demented tone, "Oh, how rude of me, I'm Number 66. I guard this lab from intruders," he raised his knife and cleaver to cross in front of his 'face', "and as my payment…any intruders I catch are mine to chop into little pieces!" he laughed maniacally again.

Al gave a gasp of surprise, and protested, "But…I'm not an intruder! I'm just here with my brother and my friend, and they were officially sent by the military to inspect inside!"

"Officially sent by the military, huh? Hmmm…" 66 stroked his chin and cast his gaze around as though he was thinking, then turned back to Al, "Sorry, but I don't care why you're here, or who sent you. All I care about is how I'm going to chop you up!" and with that, he practically flew at Al, knives at the ready.

Too late to get out now.

* * *

**_A/N:_** _This chapter…gave me _so _much trouble…we must've chased down at least ten plot bunnies (most of them concerning what the _hell _I was going to do with Barry; obviously I eventually opted to just leave his bit mostly the way it already was, with a few changes), only to discover that they wouldn't work for some reason or other. And then when we _did _find one that would work, I kept confusing myself with who was doing what when. I had to go and make this gigantic chart with all the characters I was dealing with that actually did anything worth putting them on the chart (turned out to be eight characters), and every time something happened with one person, I went and put down what everyone else on the chart was doing at the time, even if I wasn't actually going to be writing it out. It actually helped a lot, and now I've got all but the very last bit planned out, so the next chapter shouldn't take _nearly _so long.  
__Envy: And we're _not _going to write out the whole effing Slicer thing. It's pretty much exactly the same as it was in the series. You should _know _what happens already.  
__Don't snark at the nice reviewers, Envy. Yes, this chapter was highly frustrating…  
__Envy: Mostly because of Barry.  
__True, but be nice anyway. Go snark at him if you need to. Anyway, I'll kinda summarize the Slicer fight and immediately afterwards as kind of a flashback-y thing (I don't really know how to explain it, but I know what I'm talking about) so we can be like, 'Okay, this has happened now…', but I really, really don't want to write it all out, since it'd just be boring since you all (certainly should if you're reading this) already know what happens. _


	9. Manipulation and Deception

**_Chapter Title:_** _Manipulation and Deception  
__**Pairings: **None! I can't write romance for the life of me!  
__**Spoilers: **For the 5th Lab (obviously…)  
__**Warnings: **Cursing, Tucker (What? He ought to have a warning…)  
__**Disclaimer: **I wish I owned it, but I don't. Darnit.  
_**_A/N: _**_Dundundun…and despite my predictions, the chapter is late again. -sigh- I've decided that I really, really dislike writing Barry. Ed gave me some trouble, too, but Barry was definitely the main reason for the lateness. That and the fact that the theater ate all my inspiration and free time for a two week period during which I was unable to write much at all. After what happened with these last few chapters, I'm not making any promises, but I'll try my best to get the next one out in a more timely fashion.

* * *

_

The fight between Al and Number 66 had been going on for not even five minutes, but to Al it seemed as though it had been hours. He'd decided on a strategy of waiting until his opponent tired, since he couldn't feel fatigue himself and thus would have an advantage. But the guardian didn't seem to be tiring at all, and every second Al's worry for Ed and Scar increased. By now it was obvious that something was very, very wrong with this 'mission', and for all he knew they could be hurt or in trouble and need his help. He needed to beat this guy _quickly_.

"I've got you now!" the guardian shouted in a psychotically gleeful voice, as he used Al's momentary distraction to stab his knife through the leather of the boy's left elbow joint.

For once feeling very grateful to be a hollow suit of armor, Al easily snapped off a good portion of the tip of the blade by sharply bending his elbow. Then while 66 was surprised, he landed a punch right in the guardian's face, sending him flying backwards. But when he landed…the skull helmet simply fell right off.

"Oh dear, you've gone and made me lose my head…" 66 sighed, standing up and scooping up the fallen helmet.

Al gasped in shock, "Your body…"

"Yeah, due to some unfortunate circumstances I wound up like this," he tossed his helmet up and down, pointing into his completely empty armor shell, "I bet you can't tell who I used to be, huh?" he waited for a few seconds, and when Al didn't answer, continued, "Oh, come on, how can you have forgotten? It's thanks to you guys catching me that I was condemned. Number 66 was my label on death row. While I still had a flesh and blood body, my name was…" he paused dramatically, positioning the helmet back in place, "…the serial killer, Barry the Chopper!"

For a moment, Al couldn't place the name, "Barry the Chopper?" but only half a second later, the memories came rushing back to him of that day three years before, when a psychotic serial murderer had nearly killed both Ed and Winry, "Barry? You mean from three years ago?"

If Barry was still in possession of a moveable face, he would have been grinning maniacally, "That's right! After being caught and executed, I've come back from the depths of hell to take revenge against you!" after he finished his statement, he began cackling psychotically, obviously expecting a terrified reaction from Al.

But Al just tilted his head to the side, remarking casually, "You don't say."

Barry ceased his laughter, confused, "Huh?" he waved his arms around, exclaiming, "Whaddaya mean, 'you don't say'? You're supposed to get scared that an executed prisoner is still alive! And what's more, when a suit of armor has lost it's head and still moves around, you're supposed to be more like 'Gyaah!' or like 'Waah!' or like 'What's the deal with your body?' or like…" he stopped short when Al lifted his own helmet off his shoulders, then screamed "Gyaah! What is up with your body?"

Al put the helmet back on, replying calmly, "That's awful. You'll hurt my feelings, you know."

Now Barry looked thoughtful, "So, you're a fellow executed prisoner too?"

"I'm no criminal!" Al protested mightily.

Barry just shrugged, "Even so, now that I know what you are, this fight is all mine! I know what your weakness is! If I destroy your bloodseal, you die!"

"But that goes for you too," Al pointed out.

"Well…you don't know where my bloodseal is!"

"You don't know where mine is either."

"You…well, I'll just have to chop you up until I find it!" the guardian shouted, rushing Al once more.

The fight between them dragged on, and as Barry grew more and more frustrated, his moves became more and more haphazard; he wasn't even getting good hits anymore. Al just wanted the fight to be over so he could go look for Ed and Scar, but the battle was at a stalemate, since neither side could tire nor feel pain.

Finally, Al just stopped, "Look, can we just call this a fight? I'm getting worried about my brother and my friend…"

Barry stopped too, tilting his head to the side curiously, "Oh? One of those guys that went inside is your brother? The short kid or the tall guy?"

"Don't call him short, he doesn't like it."

"Ah, I see," Barry said condescendingly, chuckling to himself.

"What?" Al asked, beginning to get somewhat annoyed with the guardian's vagueness.

"Well, he put you in that armor, right?"

"Yes, he risked his own life to anchor my soul."

Barry laughed again, "Oh, brotherly love is so beautiful, isn't it?" his voice lowered menacingly, "Even if it is only fake. Just like you are."

Now Al was really getting annoyed, "What are you talking about? It's not fake! And neither am I!"

"How do you know? Hmmm? How do you know your memories and personality weren't just implanted in you?" he chuckled again, "You can't prove your soul is real. It's not something you can see. Your so-called brother and all the people you know…they could have been tricking you all this time."

Al, meanwhile, had frozen in place, "W-what? No!" he banged a fist against his chest plate, "I'm Alphonse Elric! A real human being!"

But Barry could hear the doubt creeping into Al's voice and latched onto it, speaking smoothly, "Face it, you're just a fake!" and with that, he rushed at Al, ramming into him. When he was pushed away, he kept up his attack, swinging his cleaver and cackling, "What's the matter? You've gotten slower!" he forced Al back up against the outer wall, "You're not real, you're not human. Just accept it; you'll feel better."

"I…I'm…" Al stuttered; this had thrown him completely off balance, and he found himself thinking back to Resembool, while they were both in pieces and Scar was still an enemy…Ed had wanted to tell him something, something that he was afraid of how Al might react…had it been that he wasn't real at all? Doubt flooded his mind as he unconsciously began to analyze everything that had happened since he'd woken up inside the armor shell, looking for anything that might have pointed to him not being real. What if everyone else was in on it so he wouldn't suspect anything? Could it be possible? Everyone…Winry, Pinako, the Colonel, Scar…wait. _Scar_. Al felt the doubt begin to seep away. Scar treated him like a real human, and the Ishbalan was the pickiest person about that kind of thing that he knew. He wasn't deceptive, either, and if Ed had 'let him in on it' he wouldn't have ever even _begun_ to treat Al like a person. If Scar thought he was human, then surely he must be, right? He would have to somehow ask Ed about this later, but for now he had his confidence back.

His metaphorical eyes narrowed in determination, "I _am_ a real human being!" with renewed confidence, he practically threw Barry away from him and readopted his fighting stance.

The guardian was stunned; he'd thought that he'd had his opponent thoroughly tricked. Now this was just getting annoying. His victim was actually fighting back, and being very stubborn about it, too. There wasn't even anything but metal to chop! However…there was one way to remove this pest from existence…he gave a dramatic sigh, "Oh, this is getting boring. You wouldn't be much fun to chop anyway…I guess you can just go in."

Al hesitated, confused; he didn't trust this maniac serial killer at all, but what if he were telling the truth and had just given up out of frustration? He relaxed slightly, but didn't drop out of his stance, "You mean it?"

"You think I'm lying?" Barry threw his arms in the air in mock sorrow, "So distrustful! Here, I'll even open the special door for you; it leads right into the heart of the lab," he said smoothly, walking towards the wall of the lab and placing his hand on a section of the stone. It slid back to reveal a large red button, which the guardian pressed, then began to sprint away, "So long!"

"Huh? Wait!" Al called after the guardian's fleeing form, but was quickly distracted by an ominous rumbling sound. This was definitely not good. Just how not good it was became very apparent a few seconds later, when the world exploded around him.

* * *

By the time Barry set off the detonation, Ed and the older Slicer brother were too deep into the twisting, maze-like passages of the Lab's lower levels to notice more than a small tremor.

"You're absolutely _positive_ that there weren't any more traps?" Ed shot Slicer a suspicious look.

"Positive," the former guardian answered resolutely. He might have nodded as well, but that might have been somewhat difficult, as he was now no more than a helmet being carried by his vanquisher. The rest of him, his younger brother, had committed suicide back in the room where they had been defeated, leaving him to guide Ed to the room where the incomplete Philosopher's Stone was. After defeating them, the young alchemist had demanded to know what was going on in this place, and as promised, the Slicer brothers answered as best they could with their limited knowledge.

Ed, understandably, was now both hopeful and suspicious; if the Slicer brothers were right about there being a Philosopher's Stone here, then he might have just found a way to restore his and Al's bodies. But, at the same time, Scar had said that the main ingredient of the stone…that it was the souls of live humans. Had this been the original purpose of the lab? Had the military actually condoned…? It certainly seemed like it, what with the prison next door and the convicted criminal he was currently carrying. Either way, there was something real messed up going on here, and he intended to find out what it was. He was about to ask Slicer another question when, suddenly, a loud, heavy footstep echoed in the gloom.

"I thought you said there weren't any more traps!"

"He isn't a trap."

"Whaddaya mean, 'he'? There's a _person_ down here?"

"If you can still call him human."

As Slicer finished his ominous statement, a huge silhouette became visible in the darkness, and before long the creature was completely visible and standing a mere seven feet away from the pair. It looked like some sort of brown bear, save that it stood erect upon two feet, and from this angle it didn't seem to have a face. In addition, what looked like two human arms sprouted from the back of the shoulders and curled over and around the bear arms. As Ed simply stood there in something akin to shock at its appearance, it spoke in a hoarse whisper, "It's been a long time, Edward…" it lowered its 'head' to reveal a horrifyingly familiar, albeit upside-down, face that grinned down at the stunned alchemist…the face of Shou Tucker, formerly known as the Sewing Life Alchemist.

"You!" Ed threw off his shock, dropped Slicer, and flew at the creature that had once been a man, seizing him by the throat and growling, "Why are you still alive, when Nina…?" he trailed off as his mind played back flashes of the smiling young girl…and the chimera she'd been made into.

The former man looked down at him with something like sorrow, although Ed could still see the madness flickering in his eyes, and placed one of the brown paws on his automail arm, "It is for Nina's sake that I still live, Edward."

"What's that supposed to mean, you sick bastard?" Ed snarled furiously, pulling his hand away from Tucker in disgust.

"Come with me, I'll show you," Tucker smiled and turned to walk back the way he had come.

Ed was torn for a few moments between the somewhat pleasant idea of killing the psycho right then and there, and his own curiosity. In the end, curiosity won out and the young alchemist leaned over and picked up his iron guide before following silently after Tucker.

* * *

By the time the dust of the explosion had settled enough for Alphonse to see, Barry the Chopper had vanished entirely. Al wasn't about to go looking for him, either; Ed and Scar were inside that lab, and he was in going after them. Who knew what could be happening in there?

Fifteen minutes of wandering later, poor Alphonse still hadn't found either his brother or Scar, or even any signs that they'd been there. And now he'd gotten lost, too. Sighing in frustration, the animated suit of armor decided to try calling for them again, "Niisan! Scar-san! Can either of you hear me? Nii-"

"You won't find either of them that way, boy," a woman's voice spoke from behind him, and he whirled in surprise. An unnaturally pale-skinned, black haired woman was only a few feet away…he hadn't even heard her come up!

Fearing that she might somehow be yet another 'guardian', even though she didn't look like one, Al jumped backwards and raised his fists, "Who are you?"

She smirked, "There's no need to be so defensive. I won't harm you…unless, of course, that brother of yours won't do what we tell him to."

It took less than a second for Al to realize exactly what the woman meant by this, and he took a step backwards, his metaphorical eyes widening, "W-what? You mean…?"

"That's right, boy. Now just come along quietly and this will be a great deal easier," her eyes flashed dangerously and she took a few steps towards Al.

Al put up his fists again, voice determined, "No way am I coming with _you_."

She laughed, "What makes you think that you have a choice?" in a single movement, so quick that Al couldn't even see it, the woman extended the nails on her left hand, pinning Al to the wall in such a way that he couldn't move.

"Now can I eat him?" a childish voice asked from the darkness behind the woman, and a huge, fat man walked out into Al's line of vision and grinned hungrily. He didn't wait for a reply before opening his gaping mouth and biting right through Al's armor.

Al was now thoroughly terrified; he wanted to scream more than anything, but all he could do was stare in horror as the man continued to devour his arm. '_What…what are they…? Niisan…Scar-san…help…_'

* * *

Meanwhile, Ed was completely unaware of his younger brother's plight. He was busy with the transmutation circle Tucker had led him to, in the room filled with tanks of red water. He'd also been shown the large tank of the liquid stone in the room above, and had just finished altering the arrays to be more powerful. The fact that the designs of the walls and the circle were highly similar to those on Scar's right arm did not escape his notice, but after what the Ishbalan had told him the night before last about said arm, he didn't pay it much heed.

"Well," he said quietly to himself as he brought his hands together in a clap that echoed in the large room, "Here goes…" he reached down to the circle, but just a second before he activated it, the ceiling exploded in a massive blast that rocked the room and sent chunks of wall flying everywhere. As the dust cleared, Ed sat up from where he'd fallen to the floor, coughing and squinting to see what had happened. Then his eyes widened in shock as he realized that there were now _people_ lying all over the floor, "Why are there people here…?" he wondered out loud before turning a confused glare at Tucker, "Were there other researchers left besides you?"

The chimera smiled hauntingly, "Look closer. These people are wearing prisoner's uniforms, not lab coats."

"Why are they here?" Ed shouted angrily, "If I had activated that circle, they would've…"

Tucker just threw his head back and laughed maniacally, and a horrifying revelation dawned on Edward: he'd been _supposed_ to transmute these people. If that explosion hadn't occurred, he would have killed them all without knowing, and if he'd ever found out about it at all, it would have been too late. But…how had they all gotten here in the first place? He opened his mouth, about to ask them…but before he could speak, a woman's voice interrupted him.

"Well, boy, what are you going to do now?"

Surprised, Ed whipped his head around to see a woman in a black dress standing near the door…and next to her stood Scar, an unreadable expression on his face. For a few moments, Ed could only stare, but then he raised an arm to point at the Ishbalan, "Scar…? What are you doing? Who the hell is that?"

The woman answered for him, "You don't need to concern yourself with who I am, boy. There has been a minor setback, but all the ingredients are still here. Now, if you would be so kind as to continue creating the Philosopher's Stone?"

Ed's eyes narrowed at her, and he looked over at Scar, expecting the Ishbalan to be angry and disgusted at the idea of him creating the stone using these prisoners. But Scar only gave a slow nod, seemingly uncaring, "Do as she says, Fullmetal."

"What? What's wrong with you?" Ed glared at Scar, highly confused by the Ishbalan's sudden change of heart.

The woman smiled, "There's nothing wrong with him, boy. We simply came to an agreement. Did you think he would remain loyal to _you_, a State Alchemist? Did you think he cared at all about you?" she gave a soft laugh, "Such naivety!"

Ed looked back at Scar in disbelief, but the Ishbalan did not protest the woman's statement. His eyes held nothing but cold aloofness as he stared back at Ed, the crimson orbs containing no spark of warmth or familiarity as they had before. Ed frowned; something wasn't right. There was only one explanation, but he was having trouble believing that such a thing was possible. But it was the only thing that _was_ possible. He narrowed his eyes, glaring directly at the Ishbalan, "You're not Scar."

'Scar' simply raised an eyebrow, "Then who am I, Fullmetal?"

"I don't know, but there's no way you're him. For one thing, the _real_ Scar calls me Edward. The _real_ Scar would never support the creation of the Philosopher's Stone. And most obviously of all, the _real_ Scar," Ed smirked widely, "happens to have a bruise on his left cheek where I punched him yesterday."

"Very clever, boy," the woman smirked at him before turning to 'Scar', "Envy, you made a careless mistake."

"Heh," the imposter shrugged, at the woman, "Thought that bruise came from you guys. Tch, whatever. Might as well change back now," a bright white light engulfed his form, which shifted and changed until a lithe, pale…person…with long, brackish hair reminiscent of a palm tree was standing where the false Scar had been a few moments before.

Ed covered his shock with a slightly weakened smirk, "So I was right. Scar wouldn't act like that. You'd better hope he doesn't find out about this; I doubt he'd be very happy about someone pretending to be him and doing such a bad job of it."

'Envy' smirked, "I don't think we need to worry about him at all anymore, boy."

It took a few seconds for the meaning of the words to sink in, but when they did, any lingering thought of Ed's argument with the Ishbalan was wiped clean from his mind, and he growled, "Where is he? What did you do with him?"

"We tried nicely to get him to cooperate, but he refused to even consider helping us," the woman smiled, "So we…took care of him."

Ed's eyes widened in shock and disbelief, "You didn't…I don't believe you…" his fists were clenched so tightly that his arms shook. They couldn't have killed him…he couldn't be dead…they had to be lying…they _had_ to be…anguished rage welled up within him, and he rushed at them, fists raised, "WHERE IS HE?"

* * *

**_A/N:_** _-gasp- ZOMG! Oh noes! Is Scar really dead?  
__Scar: If you don't know the answer to that question, then you obviously don't know her very well…actually, you don't know her at all.  
__Damn straight.  
__Envy: I'm finally in one of her real stories! YES!  
__Yep. And unlike Barry, you're lotsa fun to write. I'm glad you finally get to be in a story. And speaking of Barry…I apologize to all of you readers that the first page and a half were a rendition of stuff that happened in the anime. It was really, really awkward feeling when I tried to start it later than that.  
__Scar: Also note a first for her: I do not actually appear anywhere in this chapter.  
__Yeah…if you had, it woulda kinda ruined the 'suspenseful dramatic cliffhanger' dealie…that doesn't really exist unless you don't know me at all. Ahem. In other news, I got myself a livejournal account (username: ievakasku). So if you have one too, I'd be happy to friend you. Farewell 'till next time!_


	10. Choices

**_Chapter Title:_** _Choices  
**Pairings: **None! I can't write romance for the life of me!__**  
Spoilers: **For the 5th Lab (obviously…), and Greed's chimeras__**  
Warnings: **Cursing, Tucker (What? He ought to have a warning…)__**  
Disclaimer: **I wish I owned it, but I don't. Darnit._**_  
A/N: _** _Wow…it's been a while. I sincerely apologize for the insanely late update, especially since I had that cliffhanger at the end of the last one. I honestly didn't mean for it to take this long; it just didn't want to be written. But, finally, here it is. The next chapter of Brothers. Hooray! Also: for some reason the divider thingies wouldn't work, so I'm going to write Break out where there is one. I will fix this later.  
_

_**Break**  
_

As Barry's explosion rocked the building, deep in the bowels of the lab two things awoke. One, the one we shall focus on, slowly opened his crimson eyes to a small expanse of concrete floor, at the end of which was a wall of thick iron bars. For a moment he tensed, stomach clenching in fear; had it all been a dream? Being back with the Elrics…had it never really happened at all, and he was still locked in prison? But after a few seconds, he realized that this was not his cell, that his hands were not bound as they would have been were he still in that prison, and he was thinking far to clearly to have the drug in him. His relief was short-lived, however, as although he wasn't back in jail, he was still locked up in an unknown location. And not only that, but every inch of him ached and burned with pain. Scar had not gone down easily, and had put up quite the fight against his inhuman attackers. But even he had his limits, and the amount of punishment he'd received, coupled with the fact that his opponents had been seemingly invincible, had quickly become too much for him to stand up against. The last thing he remembered before he'd finally succumbed to unconsciousness was being smashed through a stone wall by the fat creature. The Ishbalan pushed himself up to a sitting position, shaking his head slightly in an attempt to clear it; he had to get out of this cell…no, he realized, it more of a cage than a cell. But that small detail didn't matter right now. Those things were going to try to either trick or force Edward into creating the Philosopher's Stone, and he had to stop them.

"So, you're awake," a female voice spoke from the shadows outside the cage, startling him. Was there a guard?

"Who's there?" he demanded, scowling and peering into the darkness in an attempt to see this unknown person.

"Calm down. There's no need to worry about us; we couldn't hurt you even if we wanted to."

Us? There were more than one of them? Scar squinted, trying to see; as his eyes grew more used to the darkness, he realized something about these people, "You are imprisoned in this place as well," he stated in a neutral voice. He could make out at least five of them, all behind yet another set of iron bars.

"Yeah," the shortest of the figures shrugged; Scar assumed that this was the woman who was talking, "We've been trapped down here for years."

Scar was about to ask why, but then remembered that he had to get out of here as quickly as he could; there was no time to stick around and chat with these other prisoners, "Where is this place?" he said, reaching a glowing right arm towards the bars.

"No don't touch the-!" one of them exclaimed, holding a hand up as though to stop him, but by that time it was too late.

No sooner had the tips of Scar's fingers brushed against the metal than an electric shock surged through him, and he jerked his hand back so violently that he nearly stumbled; even that instant of contact had been painful, blurring his vision and leaving an acrid tang in his mouth. He wouldn't be able to keep his hand on the bars long enough to destroy them, and even if he could have withstood the pain, the shock would reach his mind in less than instant and break his concentration. Shaking his head in an attempt to clear his vision, he spoke, his speech slurred and stumbling, "Wha…wha' wass'at…?"

"I tried to tell you," one of the unknown figures spoke, shrugging, "The bars are made of a metal that conducts electricity. I don't know exactly what device they use, but it's the only reason we're still here. We can't touch the bars, and the walls are solid stone, too thick to break through without causing this entire room to collapse on us."

Scar narrowed his eyes in frustration at the bars. There had to be a way out of here…there _had_ to be. Ishbala knew what was going on with the Elrics, and he had to get out of here and help them. He wasn't sure what he would be able to do against the creatures, seeing as how they'd already defeated him once, but he had to at least try. He addressed the other prisoners once more, "How long was I unconscious? Do you know anything about why I am being held here?"

"You've been out for about an hour," the female prisoner answered, "As for why you're here…a woman and a fat man brought you. I heard them say something about you being their 'backup plan', but I don't know what that means. They might just be keeping you here and out of the way temporarily, or you could be meant to be a…permanent resident."

Something about the way she said 'permanent resident' sent chills down Scar's spine, "What do you mean?"

The tallest figure rumbled, "She means that you would be a test subject."

Another continued, "Maybe you'd wind up like the guards, with your soul ripped out and attached to a suit of armor…maybe they'd turn you into a chimera like us…who knows?"

Scar's blood ran cold at these words, and he could have sworn that his heart skipped a beat. Icy tendrils of fear and dread began creeping into his mind, and for nearly a minute he found himself unable to move or even speak, so consumed was he by the horror these thoughts instilled. For that to happen…it would be a fate worse than death.

"Loa! Dorochette!" the woman's voice scolded loudly, "Now look what you've done, you idiots! That's probably not going to happen to him; they were talking like he was important, and they put him in a separate cage," she turned to Scar, "Calm down, don't listen to them…"

Slowly, Scar forced himself to calm down; he needed his wits about him if he was going to get out of here. It was then that what one of them had said actually sunk in, "You are…chimeras?"

"Yeah," one of the ones who had spoken before replied, his voice bitter, "We were betrayed by the damned military. All we did was follow their orders, and then they locked us down here and used us as test subjects to cover up what they'd done."

Scar was about to ask them what exactly their orders had been, but before he could even voice the first word one of the far walls of the room burst open, sending chunks of cement flying everywhere. One of the chunks smashed against the lock of Scar's cage, and the small red light on it went out; barely believing his luck, the Ishbalan hesitantly reached a hand forward to lightly brush against the bars, finding that they were no longer electrified. But before he could destroy them, a voice called into the room from the new hole in the wall.

"This is where they keep the animals for experimentation, huh?" as the smoke cleared, Scar could make out the form of a spiky-haired man, "You can all stay in here and be lab rats, or you can come out and play in hell with me," he looked around the room expectantly before shouting, "Choose!"

The response from the chimeras across from Scar were almost immediate, the woman speaking amongst murmurs of assent, "If you can get us out of here, we'll gladly follow you anywhere."

The man grinned, seemingly satisfied, "Great, then that works just fine. You can call me Greed," he walked over and swung the door to the chimeras' cell open.

They filed out quickly, and under the dim overhead lights Scar was able to see them clearly for the first time. There were quite a few of them, and if they hadn't already told him what they were, he wouldn't have guessed most of them to be anything other than human. 'Greed' nodded to them and walked out of Scar's range of vision, the creaking and squealing of long unused hinges telling him that more cages were being opened. But the crowd that left these and joined the rest was anything but human; over a dozen dangerous-looking animal chimeras now paced in the narrow strip of space between the two walls of cages. A doglike reptile sniffed in his direction and growled, baring a mouthful of dagger-like teeth; Scar's right hand twitched instinctively, but other than that he showed none of the unease he felt at the present situation.

"And what about you?" Greed stopped in front of the Ishbalan's cage, looking at him curiously.

"He isn't one of us," the woman from before answered for him, which was fortunate since Scar hadn't been entirely sure how to reply.

"Oh?" Greed looked back over at her, "Then what's he doing here?"

"I was being held captive here by two creatures. I do not know why they were holding me here, but I must go; I believe my companions to be in danger," Scar answered, growing more impatient with each passing moment. Without waiting for a reply from Greed, he demolished the bars of his cage in a flash of crimson light, startling the room's other occupants.

"That's some arm you've got there, huh?" before Scar could walk another step, Greed had stepped over in front of him, his grin revealing unnaturally pointed teeth, "Now, what were you saying about creatures?"

Not only were his teeth sharpened into fangs, but Scar saw that Greed's eyes were violet with the slit pupils of a cat; he recognized them to be the same as that woman's had been. He stated tonelessly, frown deepening with realization, "You are one of them."

Greed shrugged, grin widening, "Sharp, aren't you? Yeah, I'm a homunculus like them, but don't even think about lumping us together. I split off from the rest of them quite some time ago."

"Homunculus?" Scar repeated the strange word, knowing he'd heard it somewhere before. Then he remembered its meaning, and scowled in disgust, "A created human…an abomination."

"Well, you know your stuff, I'll give you that," Greed held up his left hand, upon which was a blood-red tattoo of a winged serpent eating its own tail, "See this? It's our mark. You see someone with this on their body, and you'll know exactly what they are."

"Why are you telling me this?" Scar was wary now, not trusting the homunculus at all.

Greed just shrugged, "If you're important enough for them to actually imprison you instead of killing you outright, then you could use some information. Besides, the more you know the better you'll be able to fight back, and messing up their plans will give me a good laugh."

Scar was quickly growing impatient again, and frustrated with himself for wasting time asking questions when he should be trying to find the Elrics, "I do not have time for this; I must find my companions as quickly as possible," he stepped past Greed towards the door, then realized that he had a small problem. He had no idea where in the lab he was, and from what he'd seen the place was a maze. Alphonse should still be outside, but Edward could be anywhere. By the time Scar found either of them, it could be too late. He needed a guide, someone who might know where Edward could be if he were with the other homunculi…and there was only one choice. Gritting his teeth, he looked back at Greed, "You found us here, do you know your way around?"

"Somewhat. Why?" Greed smirked, "Need a guide? I don't give favors for free, you know…you'll owe me."

Scar glared, becoming more and more frustrated with the homunculus, "I don't care if I owe you. Can you lead me to my companion? The homunculi wish to use him to create the Philosopher's Stone here…do you know where he would be?"

"Yeah, I know where he is. But I'll only take you halfway; I'm not getting any closer to the others than that, not when I'm outnumbered."

Scar nodded solemnly; he could tell from Greed's tone that he was lucky to even be led that far, "Very well."

Greed gave another toothy grin, gesturing to both Scar and the group of chimeras whom had been listening silently, "Well then, let's get moving."

_**Break**_

Envy had easily stepped to the side of Ed's haphazard attack, swinging a foot around to kick the alchemist in the ribs and followed up with several more harsh blows that sent Ed sprawling to the ground. He smirked, "Don't you have ears, pipsqueak? We already told you that we took care of him."

"I don't…believe you…" Ed gasped out as he tried to push himself back up, "You can't have…"

"Oh, we can have, pipsqueak. He wasn't any kind of match," Envy shrugged and kicked Ed several feet across the floor, "Now, are you gonna finish what you started or what?"

Ed glared defiantly, "Why…should I?"

The still-nameless woman sighed, "So difficult," she turned and called out, "Gluttony."

Ed followed her gaze, eyes widening when yet another person, this one a monstrously fat man who seemed to be dragging something along the ground behind him, walked through the steel doors. Then he realized just what was being dragged, eyes narrowing in worry and anger, "Al!"

"Niisan…" the battered form of Alphonse, his arms and legs gone as though they'd been melted away, was tossed a short distance to rest in front of the woman, "Niisan, these people…they're not human…"

"What…?" Ed's eyes got even bigger, and he slowly pushed himself back to his feet, his facial expression making him looking less like himself and more like Scar at the Ishbalan's most furious, "What are you? What are you going to do with Al?"

"So many questions from someone in your position, pipsqueak," Envy grinned, shrugging. Then he was right in front of Ed, holding him in the air by the front of his shirt; it had been so fast that the startled alchemist had barely seen him move, "I suppose we could tell you, but I doubt you'd believe us," smirking cruelly, he prepared to deal another harsh blow, but was stopped by the woman's voice.

"Now, Envy, we can't have him so injured that he won't be able to create the Stone for us."

"Tch, fine," Envy dropped the alchemist to the floor, "But once it's done, I want him. The son of that bastard…" his eyes narrowed dangerously, "I want to see him suffer."

"Very well, but be patient a while longer. Boy, you will continue. It is not a request," she leaned over and picked up Slicer's helmet from the floor, shaking it so that the blood seal was exposed, "You know what happens when one of these is destroyed, correct?" to Ed's shock, one of her fingernails extended into a deadly sharp claw, which she moved to scrape lightly against the seal.

"What do you think you're doing?" Ed shouted from the floor, unable to get up and stop what was happening right in front of his eyes.

"Ed…ward…Elric…I…" Slicer's last words were abruptly cut off when the woman's claws sliced the helmet into pieces.

It had barely sunk in what had just happened when Al's helmet had clattered to the floor, and the woman's claws were brushing up against the his now exposed blood seal, "It would be easy to do the same to him."

"No!" Ed shouted desperately, "You can't…"

"Oh, we can," Envy smirked, "And then his death would be on your hands, just like the scarred man's already is."

"What…?" Al's voice shook with fear and disbelief, "What do you mean…?"

"He wouldn't cooperate with us, and since we had no further use for him…" Envy trailed off, grinning and swiftly running a finger across his throat.

"No…no, you can't have…" if he'd been capable of it, Al would have been crying.

"Get over it kid," Envy flipped his hand nonchalantly, "He was just a serial killer that you got assigned to drag around with you," his eyes glinted, "Oh, don't tell me…don't tell me you two actually got _attached_ to him? Did you think he was your _friend_?"

"We didn't _think_," Ed's eyes were narrowed dangerously, "He _was_ our friend. He _is_ our friend."

"Oh really?" Envy raised an eyebrow, "Then if you're such great pals, surely you know what his real name is?" after a few moments of hearing nothing but stunned silence from the Elrics, he laughed, "You never even thought to ask, did you? I'll bet that you barely know anything about him. Am I right, Fullmetal pipsqueak? You didn't trust his judgment when he warned you about this place. You kept using alchemy around him, even after what happened to him on the train to East City."

Ed was shaking by then with rage towards Envy, guilt because he knew that the accusations were true, and a heavy grief that was slowly overwhelming him. When the train was mentioned, confusion was added to the mix, "What are you talking about? What happened to him?"

Envy's smirk widened, "You mean you don't know? I suppose I should tell you, then, since it's not like you'll be able to ask him anymore," Envy knelt down in front of Ed, still grinning, "The guards tortured him. Drew an array on his face and transmuted a stone on it, over and over. It went on for _hours_ before anyone found out and stopped it…"

At this statement, Ed's eyes grew wide and he murmured numbly, "Why…why didn't he tell us…?" he trailed off, feeling sick at even the thought of what had happened. If he'd been told this any other time, he'd have probably exploded and run off to find the people behind it so that he could beat the shit out of them, but at the moment he was still rather overwhelmed at everything that was happening.

"Isn't it obvious, pipsqueak?" in a flash of white light, Envy transformed into Scar, eliciting a startled gasp from Al, "He doesn't really trust either of you."

The wide smirk and the cruel glint in the red eyes looked so out of place on the Ishbalan's face that Ed did a surprised double-take before narrowing his eyes even further and growling out, "Get out of that form, you bastard."

Envy ignored him, "And why would he? A State Alchemist and his younger brother whose very existence goes against everything he believes…why would he trust _you_, after barely even a week?"

Ed didn't have an answer for that right away; even though he knew otherwise, he wasn't about to go revealing that they'd known each other before, especially not to Envy. After a few seconds he muttered through clenched teeth, "He did trust us…he _said_ he trusted us…" Ed's voice was certain. Hadn't he? Surely at some point he'd told them…but even if he hadn't put it into words, there was no doubt of it.

"Oh really?" Envy's voice was mocking, "And how much of that declaration was simple desperation for some kind of ally from a man trapped in the midst of his enemies? Or was it when he was drugged out of his senses? Really, don't kid yourself."

Before Ed could come up with a retort, the woman interrupted, sounding faintly annoyed, "Really, Envy, you're wasting time. Stop playing with him and let him finish what he started," she turned back to Ed, "Go on, boy," she allowed the tips of her claws to just barely brush against Al's bloodseal, "Will you lose him as well, just because you were a little squeamish?"

Ed's eyes widened, "No! Don't…" he swallowed grimly. If Scar was dead…it was his fault. He hadn't listened to the Ishbalan's warnings, and now Scar had been the one to pay for his bad temper. He wouldn't be responsible for Al's death as well…and if he created the Stone, they could finally reach their goal…not saying a word, staring at the floor so he wouldn't see the faces of the prisoners, he stood and walked over to the tanks of red liquid, beginning to arrange them around the circle.

**_Break_**

**_A/N:_** _Oh the dramatic irony, it burns, it burns. Not really. Dramatic irony is the win. Y'know, this chapter was going to keep going, but by the time I got both parts to a reasonable stopping point, I was just like "Screw it, I'm updating." Yay Greed. Greed is fun, especially when interacting with Scar. That's right, Ed, you'd better feel guilty for being a jerk! Speaking of which, did I get too off course with that bit? I might rewrite it later, because I think I could do a lot better with it. At any rate, thanks to all of you reviewers, because without you guys I might not have finished this chapter at all._

_PS: I am in college now, and since it just started and I'm not really sure how much of a workload I'm going to be dealing with, I don't know when the next chapter will be. I'm praying it won't take half as long as this one did._


	11. Things Fall Apart

_**Chapter Title:** Things Fall Apart  
**Pairings: **None! I can't write romance for the life of me!  
**Spoilers: **For the 5th Lab (obviously…), and Greed's chimeras  
**Warnings: **Cursing, Tucker (What? He ought to have a warning…)  
**Disclaimer: **I wish I owned it, but I don't. Darnit.  
**A/N: ** Gah, I'm horribly late _again_. Oh college, why must you eat all my time and inspiration so? -sigh- At any rate, here it is. The long awaited chapter 11 of Brothers. Hope you enjoy it!  
_

* * *

"Well, this is as far as I'll take you," Greed stopped in front of the door leading out of the large room. The group had been walking through hallways for what seemed like forever to the impatient Scar before reaching this room. Greed had kept asking him questions about who he was and what he was doing here, and quite a few about Edward and Alphonse. Scar had answered most of them, if only to keep Greed guiding him in the right direction, but several more sensitive questions, such as why his right arm had its tattoos and how Alphonse had become a soul attached to a suit of armor, were met with stony silence; fortunately the homunculus had not pushed those issues further.

"Do you know where to go from here?" Scar questioned, knowing that he'd easily get lost without some kind of directions in this maze.

Greed thought for a moment, then replied with a shrug, "All I know is that you just keep going down whenever possible. It's in the lowest part of this side of the building."

Scar frowned at the vagueness of the directions, but didn't push it further; there was no time to get into an argument with this homunculus. As he began to walk past the door into the corridor beyond, he spoke, "You have my thanks for guiding me as far as you did."

Greed grinned behind him, "Yeah, yeah, just don't forget that you owe me one."

Scar did not reply this time, and soon Greed, the chimeras, and the doorway had faded into darkness behind him. He walked for some time, alone in the silence and eerie half-light of the lab, going down whenever he could. He had quickly gotten turned around in the maze, so much that he didn't know even the general direction of where he'd started from. If he didn't find the Elrics, it was likely that he would wander in circles and never find his way out again; the thought was chilling, and he tried to keep it out of mind. After some time, however, he began to notice a deep ache in his right arm; it was a greatly muted version of the pain he had experienced when the Crystal Alchemist had thrown that red stone at him…it seemed like an age ago, but it wasn't even three months. But Scar remembered the pain as though it had happened just yesterday; it had been the worst he'd experienced in a long time. And this was the same kind…so there were red stones somewhere nearby. He was heading in the right direction.

It was some time later before he found the small window set into the wall, the increased pain in his arm and the sickly red glow emanating from the room beyond telling him that this must be the right place. He moved quietly to avoid possible detection, peering through the small opening onto the scene beyond. He'd found the Elrics, but it didn't look good.

Edward was moving what appeared to be tanks _full_ of red liquid into indentations around the edges of a transmutation circle that looked eerily similar to the main part of his right arm, and inside the circle was a group of ragged and frightened men in prisoner's uniforms. Alphonse was there as well…but he was missing his arms, legs, and helmet, and the woman homunculus had her claws pointed at his bloodseal. Threatening him. Gritting his teeth angrily and fighting the urge to burst through the wall and stop whatever was going on, Scar continued to look around the room, trying to figure out what was going on. The fat homunculus was there as well, as was a grotesque creature that looked part human and held a small, furry child. And then there was…himself? Scar blinked, growing more confused by the second. It wasn't him, but it looked exactly like him! What was going _on_? It was obviously something to do with the Philosopher's Stone, but…

_Clunk._ The sound of the last tank being pushed into its place was all it took to interrupt Scar's confused and disorganized thoughts. The fact that the amount of red liquid present was causing him a great deal of distracting pain in his right arm only made things worse. And now Edward was kneeling before the transmutation circle, clapping softly and then reaching for it so slowly his arm was barely moving at all…Scar's mind was racing, trying to think of something he could do that wouldn't get them all killed. The moments seemed to stretch on for hours, and everything was blanketed in a heavy silence. And then…Ed's arm stopped moving, and dropped; the boy hung his head, and his whispered words seemed almost like a shout in the completely silent room.

"Sorry, Al…I can't…"

For about half a second there was a kind of shocked silence, and Scar's doppelganger frowned in annoyance and started forwards towards Ed. It was at this point when Scar finally made his move, knowing that if he didn't do something _right now_ then he might be too late. Almost without thinking he brought his right hand against the wall, blasting it open in a shower of flying rubble. A few of the tanks of red liquid were smashed in the process, their contents splashing all over the floor and causing something of a panic amongst the prisoners; this also turned out to be an incredibly effective distraction to the homunculi. The woman had moved away from Alphonse, at least. Without pause, he jumped down to the floor, landing in a crouch and standing quickly and looking around, trying to take stock of the situation they all were now in. Alphonse wouldn't be able to stand, that much was obvious, and Edward didn't look to be in that good of a condition himself. The alchemist was gaping at Scar in disbelief, briefly turning back towards the doppelganger as if to confirm that it was still there.

"Scar…?" Ed turned back to the Ishbalan, and when Scar nodded, grinned and staggered to his feet, sending the homunculi a smugly triumphant look, "Well, it doesn't seem like he's all that dead after all."

Lust's only response to that was to stand up and narrow her eyes in frustration, while Envy sighed and transformed back into what Ed assumed was his normal form, "Well, there goes that idea," the homunculus smirked and continued walking forwards in a somewhat threatening manner. Ed moved towards Al, and then his foot landed in the incomplete Philosopher's Stone and the world dissolved into chaos.

The room was flooded with the bright blue light emanating from Ed's form, his automail warping and changing into a spear which launched itself into the wall, just barely missing Lust and Envy as the two homunculi dodged out of the way. Stone spikes grew from the floor and flew through the air in a deadly rain, taking out several of the scattering prisoners. Red liquid gushed from the walls where Ed's arm and the spikes had smashed the glass holding it back, and almost all of the tanks had been smashed open as well within a few seconds. And it was all going into Ed, fueling yet more uncontrollable transmutations. Scar was immobilized at first by the sudden flare of intense pain in his right arm at the presence of so much of the incomplete Philosopher's Stone being activated so close to him, but he soon realized that Alphonse was completely unprotected from the deadly stone missiles being shot through the air with abandon. Pushing as much of the pain to the back of his mind as he could, he ran for Al.

He only made it about halfway. He was so distracted by the pain and trying to reach his goal that he didn't see the spike flying towards him until it was too late; he only had enough time to get partially out of the way, and it grazed across his left side, the force of the blow knocking him to the ground with a strangled cry of pain. And now that he was on the ground, his right arm was close enough to the puddles of Philosopher's Stone to activate his tattoos. A puddle the size of his fist glowed bright red and flew onto his right arm as though drawn by a magnet, beginning the slow process of absorption the instant it touched his skin. From that moment, there was nothing in Scar's world except for the pain. Someone was screaming, and it took him almost a minute to realize that the sound was coming from his own throat. By that time, even more of the liquid Stone had flown to his arm, and the pain had intensified tenfold. He wasn't in a state of mind to do anything but scream and thrash and try to claw the stuff off his arm, but it wouldn't come off and more kept coming and coming and coming and he couldn't stop it. He didn't even know who he was anymore. And then his arm attracted the attention of one of the main streams, and when the pull of his arm wasn't strong enough to bring such an amount to him it dragged him across the floor to it instead, plunging itself up to the shoulder into the stream. Now the power of his arm was at war with the power pulling the liquid into Ed, and he felt like he was being torn apart. He was in too much pain to even scream anymore…he just wanted to die.

He was only aware that he'd been pulled out of the stream because the tug had felt like it had pulled his arm clear off, except he knew that couldn't have happened because it was still covered in the Stone that had been pulled out with it and therefore the pain of absorption was still continuing, and then there had been relief from the terrible feeling of being torn to pieces by the power war between his arm and Ed. He was distantly aware of being carried upwards and then set down, as though it were happening to someone else and he was merely watching. Even though the pain had lessened slightly now that he was out of the stream, he still could do nothing but convulse on the ground, eyes rolling wildly and foam dripping from his mouth as his arm slowly absorbed what had been pulled up with him. Every second he'd been in contact with the liquid, voices had been crowding into his mind and they were angry and shouting and they wanted blood and he was being overwhelmed _make the voices go away please make them stop please please please_. And then it was over, leaving nothing but an aching arm and the voices. Those did not lessen, still crowding his mind with their anger and hate, but eventually one very insistent and familiar voice began to rise above the others, desperately calling his assumed name over and over. It was Alphonse. He had to reach Alphonse. He focused on the boy's voice, pushing the others back into the recesses of his mind as best he could. Finally he managed to get most of them pushed back, and focused his eyes through the blurry haze of sweat and tears, trying to find Alphonse. The boy was right in front of him; he was no longer down in the room full of the liquid stone, but had been somehow moved back up to the hallway where he'd blasted the wall open. Alphonse didn't currently have any legs or arms, so how…? Realizing that the boy was still calling his name, he tried to reply, but all that came out of his mouth was a hoarse, strangled noise.

"Don't try to talk, Scar-san," Al's voice was full of worry for his friend and his brother both, "Niisan…he's still down there…his alchemy is completely out of control…" he trailed off as Scar attempted to push himself up, "Scar-san, what are you going to do? You're already hurt, and I saw what happened when the incomplete Stone got on your arm…how will you get to niisan?"

"I don't know," was what Scar attempted to say as he pushed himself shakily to his knees, but he didn't know how much of the pain-garbled speech Alphonse would be able to understand, "but I have to try."

He certainly did have to try, even if it meant more pain for him. The amount of power that was flowing through the boy now…it would be similar to what he had been going through, if not worse, and he couldn't leave Edward down there to suffer through it when there might be something he could do. Someone had pulled him out…he had to do the same now. He had to.

Alphonse nodded solemnly, understanding what Scar meant to do as the Ishbalan pulled himself over to the edge of the hole in the wall and prepared to jump back down, "Be careful, Scar-san."

Scar nodded, looking down for a moment to make sure there was nothing that would kill him if he jumped. The floor was broken, but nothing he could impale himself on, and almost all of the incomplete Stone was gone. Even the transmutations had calmed down somewhat, although Ed was still glowing with that eerie blue light and jerking around as much as he seemed to be able to; the sight of it made Scar's stomach twist unpleasantly. Without a second thought as to his own safety, he pushed himself off the ledge, landing in a crouch and collapsing with a grunt of pain as his legs gave out from under him. But he couldn't give up now. Pushing himself back onto his feet and trying to ignore the pain that shot through his body, he started towards Edward's glowing form. The sheer amount of raw power flowing out of him was enough for Scar to have to actually push against, as though it were a strong wind. His arm was hurting again, but after what he'd just been through the mere pain of being close to the power felt like next to nothing, even though it would probably have left him completely immobilized before. By now all of the Stone had been used up, but even then As he grew closer to the boy, he had to put up his left arm as though to shield him from the force of the outward spiral of power; his right arm hung useless at his side, the shoulder having seemingly been dislocated when he'd been pulled out of the stream before. He didn't know what he would do when he finally did reach the boy, but it would be better than lying uselessly on that ledge and watching his friend suffer.

And then he was there next to Edward, throwing his left arm around his shoulders and trying to wrench him away from where he stood frozen. He didn't know if this would help, but it was worth a try. For a moment Ed seemed glued to the spot, and then suddenly he moved, the abruptness of the release causing the Ishbalan to lose his balance and fall to the floor with the boy in tow. Instinctively he curled around the boy, as though trying to protect him from what was happening to him even though he knew such a thing was a useless gesture. Edward was still glowing, and he didn't know how to stop it.

"Edward…Edward, calm down, try to take control of it," he muttered, clinging the boy to him tightly in desperation, eyes squeezed shut at the blinding glow and the sound of the Stone's power roaring in his ears.

"…Scar…?" a tiny whisper, so soft that Scar could barely hear it, escaped Ed's mouth.

"Yes, yes, it's me, Edward. It's me, I'm here…" an almost overwhelming feeling of relief that Ed was still in there, could still recognize him, flowed through Scar. He was helping, he was _protecting_. Something he had barely thought himself capable of anymore.

Edward, meanwhile, seemed to be slowly calming down as Scar continued to reassure him, and the Ishbalan realized that this was what had happened when Alphonse had brought him out of it. He needed something familiar to focus on, to pull himself out with, and Scar's voice seemed to be doing the trick. So he continued talking, practically babbling by this point, feeling the power slowly but surely subside. The glow was gone now, and the sharp pain in his right arm had dulled to an ache. He slowly opened his eyes to stare down at Edward, only to find that the boy was already looking right back up at him with eyes that were exhausted and pained, but aware. He'd succeeded.

"You're all right…" a tiny smile quirked the corners of his lips upward for a brief moment. All that he'd put his body through was finally catching up to him, black spots dancing at the edges of his vision and his grip on Ed slackening.

"Scar…Scar! You'd better not die _now_, you stupid bastard!" Ed's exclamation was muted in his ears as his vision went completely gray, then black as he sank into the blissful oblivion of unconsciousness.

* * *

It was almost two hours later when a group of soldiers rushed into the room, and the sight that met their eyes was certainly a strange one. The room was completely torn apart, the floor cracked and buckling and spikes protruding from the walls and floor. Shards of glass and metal crunched underfoot as the group hurried towards the center of the room, where a small, relatively circular area of the floor remained had remained undamaged, like the eye of a storm. And lying inside this circle was one of the strangest sights they'd seen that day: the former serial murderer who had generally been believed by most of them to be a cold-hearted monster was curled protectively around one of the people he'd not only once almost killed, but should by all rights despise for being the one holding him captive. It didn't make any sense, but there was no question that the Ishbalan's posture was that of a protector; from what they didn't know, but they highly suspected that it had to do with whatever force had injured the two of them so badly and torn the room apart like this.

"Hey, did you come for us?" a desperate voice called down from somewhere above them; they looked up to see a large hole blasted near the ceiling, through which was another hallway and what appeared to be a mutilated suit of armor.

After a few seconds of staring at the empty armor that was _talking_, one of the soldiers regained enough composure to shout back, "Are you Alphonse Elric? We received a report that the Fullmetal Alchemist, his brother, and his charge had entered this building some time ago, and we've been searching in here for at least an hour."

"Yes, I'm Alphonse," the voice coming from the armor was filled with such relief and gratitude that the soldiers had to wonder what exactly had happened here. Whatever it was had taken out all three of the group, and anything that could do that was something to be worried about.

"Don't worry, we'll get you all out of here as soon as we can," the soldier called back up, then signaled some of the others to get the 'armor' and several more to begin moving the two on the floor.

It was slow going getting out of the lab; they had to be careful with Fullmetal and Scar in order not to worsen their injuries, and it took three of them to carry Alphonse. But eventually, finally, they made it out into the cool night air. Makeshift stretchers were assembled, and the trio was loaded into a truck bound for the military hospital. The three of them had barely survived their ordeal that had been meant as merely a routine inspection. But they were alive, despite everything. And that, Alphonse realized as the truck rattled on its way, was all he really cared about at the moment. Inhuman creatures, Philosopher's Stones, all of it…he could worry about that later. Living was enough for now.

* * *

_**A/N:** And finally, the 5th Lab is officially finished with! Now I can go on to other, hopefully more fun things. Hooray! Poor Scar though…he absorbed like, a fourth of that stuff. TT I HAVE A REASON FOR IT I SWEAR. But isn't Scar an amazing big brother? I want him to be my big brother. It'd be great. Anyways, I hope you all liked it! The ending was kinda awkward, I thought, but I couldn't think of another way. XP Until next chapter! -waves-_


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